Agency Among Agents: Designing with Hypertextual Friction in the Algorithmic Web

TL;DR

This paper proposes 'Hypertextual Friction' as a design approach to enhance user agency in algorithmic web interfaces by emphasizing provenance, traceability, and user-driven meaning-making, contrasting with typical algorithmic systems.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of Hypertextual Friction and analyzes how different interface structures impact user agency and participation in web environments.

Findings

Hypertext systems emphasize provenance and traceability.

Algorithmic systems tend to obscure process and reduce participation.

Designing with hypertextual values can reclaim user agency.

Abstract

Today's algorithm-driven interfaces, from recommendation feeds to GenAI tools, often prioritize engagement and efficiency at the expense of user agency. As systems take on more decision-making, users have less control over what they see and how meaning or relationships between content are constructed. This paper introduces "Hypertextual Friction," a conceptual design stance that repositions classical hypertext principles--friction, traceability, and structure--as actionable values for reclaiming agency in algorithmically mediated environments. Through a comparative analysis of real-world interfaces--Wikipedia vs. Instagram Explore, and Are.na vs. GenAI image tools--we examine how different systems structure user experience, navigation, and authorship. We show that hypertext systems emphasize provenance, associative thinking, and user-driven meaning-making, while algorithmic systems tend to obscure process and flatten participation. We contribute: (1) a comparative analysis of how interface structures shape agency in user-driven versus agent-driven systems, and (2) a conceptual stance that offers hypertextual values as design commitments for reclaiming agency in an increasingly algorithmic web.