Oh, this definitely describes the research process as a whole. Reading this, it reminded me of spending over a month among Lehigh's stacks with your help and your colleagues'. "Following a hypertext link" is analogous to tracking down the papers referenced in the one you're reading. The feedback loop may be slower, and involves many sleepless nights in a lab, and having everything online makes it accessible to more people than at a university, but the principles are the same.

On a side note, why does the term "digital natives" make me giggle? :)