I do agree that having so many links available to explore can cause problems in terms of time management and balancing broadening one's perspective and responding either through discussion and assignments.  However, this challenge is one that not only we face but our students face - and therefore our challenges and the strategies we come up with for dealing with them - can be shared with our students and ultimately help them navigate through information overload.

From the perspective of gaining access to information and forming knowledge - having linkages allows the viewer to pursue the areas where they need clarification, not only does this promote self-directed learning, but also self-assessment as to where our deficits are currently with a topic.  In addition, we all come from different experiences and knowledge base but through supplemental links we can "level" the playing field -  not to mention view varying sources and minimize the bias of individual authors on our overall interpretation of information.