The Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia brings together scholars, researchers, and practitioners from diverse disciplines to consider the form, role and impact of hypertext and hypermedia in a forum of discussion of ideas, design and use of hypertext and hypermedia in a variety of domains. The conference also considers the transformative power of hypermedia and its ability to alter the way we read, write, argue, work, exchange information and entertain ourselves.
“An expert and diverse panel, drawn from business and academe, and from large corporations and entrepreneurial small businesses, discusses the business and management of serious hypertext projects. Topics include the transition from research to practice, the role of standards, identifying markets and customers, and organizations and mechanisms that ensure editorial quality, successful deployment, and commercial viability.”
“Our project is studying the process by which groups of individuals work together to build large, complex structures of ideas and is developing a distributed hypermedia collaboration environment (called ABC) to support that process. This paper focuses on the architecture and implementation of the Distributed Graph Storage (DGS) component of ABC. The DGS supports a graph-based data model, conservatively extended to meet hypermedia requirements. Some important issues addressed in the system include scale, performance, concurrency semantics, access protection, location independence, and replication (for fault tolerance).”
“We describe the organization and implementation of the Knowledge Weasel (KW) Hypermedia Annotation System which we are using to explore knowledge structuring by collaborative annotation. Knowledge Weasel incorporates many useful features: a common record format for representing annotations in different media for uniform access; dynamic user control of the presentation of annotations as a navigational aid; global navigation using queries and local navigation using link following; support for collecting related sets of annotations into groups for contextual reference and communication. KW purposely leverages off of free, publicly available software so it doesn't require building specialized tools and also so it can be freely available. We discuss some of the issues involved with annotating non-textual material such as images and sound and conclude with a brief discussion of ongoing and future work.”
“In conventional hypertexts, links are explicit connections between specific regions of a text. We describe an architecture that treats links as the outcome of responses to user pokes. In this architecture, a hypertext is a collection of link-resolving components, each interpreting a user's request according to its own resolution algorithm. Each link-resolving component is a set of cooperative processes, communicating with a central network manager. When a user points at some location within a window, each link-resolving component is given a key derived according to a previously-stored algorithm; the link-resolving components concurrently update their displays according to their algorithms for resolving the keys. Multiple applications can easily share a common source and be invoked simultaneously, providing a concurrent browsing mechanism. Two example hypertexts employing this architecture are described.”
“Many large collections of full-text documents are currently stored in machine-readable form and processed automatically in various ways. These collections may include different types of documents, such as messages, research articles, and books, and the subject matter may vary widely. To process such collections, robust text analysis methods must be used, capable of handling materials in arbitrary subject areas, and flexible access must be provided to texts and text excerpts of varying size. In this study, global text comparison methods are used to identify similarities between text elements, followed by local context-checking operations that resolve ambiguities and distinguish superficially similar texts from texts that actually cover identical topics. A linked text structure is then created that relates similar texts at various levels of detail. In particular, text links are available for full texts, as well as text sections, paragraphs, and sentence groups. The linked structures are usable to identify important text passages, to traverse texts selectively both within particular documents and between documents, and to provide flexible text access to large text collections in response to various kinds of user needs. An automated 29-volume encyclopedia is used as an example to illustrate the text accessing and traversal operations.”
“Traditional concurrency control techniques for database systems (transaction management based on locking protocols) have been successful in many multiuser settings, but these techniques are inadequate in open, extensible and distributed hypertext systems supporting multiple collaborating users. The term "multiple collaborating users" covers a group setting in which two or more users are engaged in a shared task. Group members can work simultaneously in the same computing environment, use the same set of tools and share a network of hypertext objects. Hyperbase (hypertext database) systems must provide special support for collaborative work, requiring adjustments and extensions to normal concurrency control techniques. Based on the experiences of two collaborative hypertext authoring systems, this paper identifies and discusses six concurrency control requirements that distinguish collaborative hypertext systems from multiuser hypertext systems. Approaches to the major issues (locking, notification control and transaction management) are examined from a supporting technologies point of view. Finally, we discuss how existing hyperbase systems fare with respect to the identified set of requirements. Many of the issues discussed in the paper are not limited to hypertext systems and apply to other collaborative systems as well.”
“Most hypertext systems facilitate one-at-a-time link creation, but only a few support automatic link generation. In systems that do support automatic link generation, user interests are either ignored or explicit user actions are required to enter a set of keywords and queries. In this paper we present a new linking mechanism called HieNet, implemented on top of a commercial hypertext system, that generates new links based on previously-created user links. Our approach allows users direct control over similarity thresholds, node granularity, and the extent of linking in composite nodes. Our work derives from Salton's work on automatic generation of links using term vectors, and extends the ideas incorporated in Bernstein's Link Apprentice and Lotus SmarText. Preliminary tests show that HieNet generates plausible links with acceptable performance and that users can learn to control the link generation parameters.”
“In this paper, we present the concept and the general framework of a new navigation style for hypermedia systems, the media-based navigation. The user browses through a hypermedia system using the specific clues such as shape, color, construction for still image, motion for movie, and tone or melody for auditory data. In this navigation, the user and the system interact with each other without translating the textual representation. We describe the visual-based navigation and show its algorithms. The algorithms are implemented on an experimental hypermedia database system called "Miyabi." We show some experimental results and our current evaluation. We also describe the implementation of the algorithms for large scale hypermedia systems and show that these algorithms can effectively apply to the system which have more than 10000 images. We also describe the auditory media-based navigation. The media-based navigation is a useful interface for hypermedia systems to improve human-machine interactive interfaces.”
“Hypertext theorists tend to approach the hypertext concept from radically different philosophical positions. Some theorists stress hypertext's utility as an information storage and retrieval device; others praise hypertext's ability to free the reader from linear media; still others applaud hypertext's connectivity and its ability to create a basis for the communal creation of knowledge. The hypertext documents that these theorists envision (and create) are quite different from one another because they are based on each theorist's particular perspective on hypertext. Recently, many hypertext theorists have acknowledged a need for hypertext authors to develop a better rhetorical understanding of their readers; however, the reader roles that most hypertext theorists have thus far anticipated do not encompass all of the reader roles that hypertext can accommodate. Coney (Cone92a) has offered a comprehensive "taxonomy of readers" that -- although it was originally conceived as a taxonomy of readers of conventional print -- provides deeper insight into hypertext reader roles. In this paper, we will discuss the philosophical traditions invoked by various hypertext theorists and the reader roles that are accommodated or required by those traditions. Finally, we will discuss the hypertext author's virtual presence, the implied author, as a corollary of reader role.”
“Taking the concept of a link from hypertext and adding to it the rich collection of information formats found in multimedia systems provides an extension to hypertext that is often called hypermedia. Unfortunately, the implicit assumptions under which hypertext links work do not extend well to time-based presentations that consist of a number of simultaneously active media items. It is not obvious where links should lead and there are no standard rules that indicate what should happen to other parts of the presentation that are active. This paper addresses the problems associated with links in hypermedia. In order to provide a solution, we introduce the notion of context for the source and the destination of a link. A context makes explicit which part of a presentation is affected when a link is followed from an anchor in the presentation. Given explicit source and destination contexts for a link, an author is able to state the desired presentation characteristics for following a link, including whether the presentation currently playing should continue playing or be replaced. We first give an intuitive description of contexts for links, then present a structure-based approach. We go on to describe the implementation of contexts in our hypermedia authoring system CMIFed.”
“Browsing large hypertexts by following links can be difficult and confusing, especially if links span distant nodes. Often, a user would like to explore several regions of a network simultaneously, when studying the end points of one or more links, for example. Although this can be achieved by displaying each area of interest in a separate zoomed-in window, the union of such views is not always meaningful. In particular, valuable context showing the relationships between the views is lost. By balancing local detail and global context, fisheye views display information at several levels of abstraction simultaneously. We have devised a novel technique for generating fisheye views of hierarchically nested graphs with multiple variable magnification focal points. In this paper we demonstrate its feasibility as a tool for exploring large nested hypertext networks.”
“The emerging technologies of pen-based navigation and hand-held computing pose a number of challenges for hypertext and the development of electronic books. In this paper we explore methods of query-based browsing that meet some of these challenges. We describe an existing prototype (Queries-R-Links) that we have developed and we then discuss an enhanced version of query-based browsing that uses methods of text analysis and related approaches to provide a more focused set of hits (links) during browsing.”
“Hypertexts may be implicitly structured, based on either node content or context. In this paper, we examine implicit structures that rely on the interpretation of node's spatial context. Hypertext authors and readers can perceive and understand these idiosyncratic structures, but, because they are implicit, they cannot be used by the system to support users' activities. We have explored spatially structured hypertext authored in three different systems, and have developed heuristic recognition algorithms based on the results of our analyses of the kinds of structures that people build. Our results indicate that (1) recognition of implicit structures in spatial hypertext is feasible, (2) interaction will be important in guiding such recognition, and (3) the hypertext system can provide layout facilities that will render later systematic interpretation much easier. Found structures can be used as a basis for supporting information management, as a straightforward way of promoting knowledge-base evolution, as a way of solving representational problems endemic to many hypertext systems, or as a basis for collaboration or interaction.”
“Information farming views the cultivation of information as a continuing, collaborative activity performed by groups of people working together to achieve changing individual and common goals. Failure to differentiate information farming from related but distinct activities like information mining and data factories has been a fruitful source of misunderstanding and discord in the hypertext literature and in the design of hypertext environments. Dramatic enactment and visual salience -- not recall, precision, or usability -- assume primary roles in design for information gardening. In this technical briefing, we examine how enactment contribute to the success and failure of a variety of Hypergate and Storyspace features.”
“This paper discusses issues for the design of a Dexter-based cooperative hypermedia architecture and a specific system, DeVise Hypermedia (DHM), developed from this architecture. The Dexter Hypertext Reference Model [Hala90] was used as basis for designing the architecture. The Dexter model provides a general and solid foundation for designing a general hypermedia architecture. It introduces central concepts and proposes a layering of the architecture. However, to handle cooperative work aspects, such as sharing material and cooperative authoring, we have to go beyond the Dexter model concepts. To deal with such aspects we have extended our implementation of the Dexter concepts with support for long-term transactions, locking and event notification as called for by Halasz [Hala88]. The result is a platform independent architecture for developing cooperative hypermedia systems. The architecture consists of a portable kernel that constitutes an object oriented framework for developing Dexter compliant hypermedia systems. It is a client/server architecture including an object oriented database (OODB) to store the objects implementing the Dexter Storage Layer. We use a general OODB being co-developed to support long term transactions, flexible locking, and event notification. The transaction and locking mechanism support several modes of cooperation on shared hypermedia materials, and the notification mechanism supports the users in maintaining awareness of each others' activity. The portable kernel was used to implement the DHM system on two quite different platforms: UNIX/X-windows and Apple Macintosh.”
Raphaely, Den (1993): Technologically Assisted Focussing in Psychotherapy with Couples: A Hypertext Application for Clients, Clinicians & Researchers. In: Stotts, P. David and Furuta, Richard (eds.) Proceedings of ACM Hypertext 93 Conference November 14-18, 1993, Seattle, Washington. pp. 250-255. Available online
“Video, controlled by computer, can be used in psychotherapy to give a couple feedback on how they interact. Organized hypertextually, these clips can be cross-referenced with other video-records (e.g. other sessions with this couple or another couple; movies; documentaries) and with other kinds of texts (e.g. therapist notes, scholarly references, genograms, cartoons). But how are these to be organized practically? And on what theoretical basis? This demonstration will show how a hypertext shell (the nWAYZ Project) built on HyperCard and VideoToolkit can be used to construct a hypertext for use by clients, therapists and researchers.”
“The Semi-Structured Toolkit (SST) is a C library that provides universal functions based on abstractions for storage format- and data type-dependencies of semi-structured/frame-based information units. The SST provides searching, sorting, viewing, and linking operations for data stored in its native formats, without requiring proprietary formats or conversion. Hypertext capabilities such as linking and outlining are implemented in the SST with inverted indices for each of the fields in semi-structured records. This paper describes the implementation of hypertext capabilities in the SST.”
“This briefing describes the design of the KMS script language and some of the lessons learned from experience using it. The language -- the result of over 20 years of ZOG/KMS development -- is a procedural, block-structured language characterized by a simple 'command line' syntax, a large number of intrinsic commands (approximately 800), and the use of nodes and links as a central aspect of the syntax and semantics of the language. The intrinsic use of nodes and links in the script language provides interesting opportunities, not only for the design of other aspects of the language such as control structures, but also for the use of hypermedia as a programming environment to facilitate development and maintenance of scripts. In addition to designing the language, we have used it extensively to develop many hypermedia-based applications. Our experience, and that of end-user organizations, strongly reinforces our general belief that a script language is a valuable adjunct to hypermedia systems and instrumental to the utility of hypermedia for real world task environments.”
“Can explicit hypertext structure shed light on complicated arguments? Three hypertext systems -- Storyspace, Aquanet, and SEPIA -- will be used to explore and to represent issues from the Hypertext 93 panel, "Hypertext Fiction: Structure and Narrative." Through a realistic experiment in capturing a particularly challenging exchange of views, this panel seeks to illuminate different approaches to hypertext argumentation.”
“In this paper, we present a graph-based object model that will be used as a uniform framework for direct manipulation of multimedia information. Essentially, we propose a graph representation of the conceptual schema, the object instances, and the user queries. The resulting uniform approach is well suited to a visual interface in which the user, supported by appropriate tools, manipulates directly on the screen object graphs for different purposes as schema definition, querying, browsing, and viewing. Next, we give formal definitions of such operations along with examples concerning a real multimedia application we have developed in order to experiment with the proposed approach. Finally, design and implementation issues are discussed for MORE, a prototype system that, combining effectively browsing and querying techniques, provides a visual environment for multimedia information retrieval.”
“Macweb is a hypertext system that uses types to incorporate knowledge in hypertext. In this paper, we examine an application developed with the system for accessing a technical document base in the context of a task. This application gives us the opportunity to discuss the extension of typing to anchors. We show that attaching knowledge to anchors through types must take into account the context of use of the anchored text. Thus, we introduce the notion of semantic anchoring of concepts within documents. We show how Macweb makes it possible to implement this approach without adding any new features and how it provides an answer to the famous sentence "Don't link me in". Beyond the experiment itself, the foundations of the approach and its connection with hypertext systems modeling is presented.”
“The OpenBook system using a book metaphor allows a user to leaf through a set of nodes retrieved from a hypermedia just like a book. While leafing through the book, the reader does not need to pay attention to the detailed description written in pages, but impressive information such as chapter titles and figures catches reader's eyes. In other words, leafing through an electronic book takes advantage of a cognitive capability to skim the outlines of the contents. Moreover, the system supports a query-based access mechanism which supports a structure search mechanism for the purpose of finding potentially useful nodes. Furthermore, this paper describes a method of linearizing complex hyper-networked nodes to facilitate high speed browsing, which is a unique aspect of OpenBook.”
“Much of the power of hypermedia comes from the development of techniques for information management that closely match natural cognitive processes. HyperSet, a hypermedia environment tailored for taxonomic reasoning [Parunak 91], is an example of this philosophy. People perform taxonomic reasoning when they classify, store, and retrieve a number of similar information objects (such as biological specimens, or linguistic constructions, or research projects). The process is essentially set-based. The user sorts objects into sets based on their characteristics; looks together at members of a single set to search for correlations or discernible subsets among them; examines the different sets of which one item is a member to see whether there are relations among them; and generates new sets from old ones. Two years of experience in using HyperSet has led to a deeper understanding of the patterns and processes of taxonomic reasoning and the kind of computer methods that can effectively support it. This paper reports on three of these insights: 1. The set of sets that develops as classification takes place is not flat, but hierarchical. Analysis of this hierarchy yields a representation that combines the flexibility of a directed acyclic graph with the navigational properties of strict trees. 2. It is useful for a taxonomic information system to support a simple dualism between sets and their elements, permitting one to do set operations on artifacts as well as on sets. 3. Similarity measures among different sets are most usefully computed for a hypercube of such sets, a hypercube that emerges naturally from the hierarchical structure of sets.”
“In this paper, a new intelligent human interface which can provide simple and flexible user access capabilities, based on the concept of dynamic hypertext System is introduced for multimedia information networks. In this dynamic hypertext system, Metanodes and Metalinks are defined as abstract nodes and flexible links, and organize a dynamic information space where user can easily retrieve the desired information objects by asking to the knowledge agent. The knowledge agent based on the knowledge-base can decide the link from the current reference point to the suitable Metanodes among the multimedia databases distributed over the network. The knowledge agent also performs media format conversion of the original information units to adjust to the users workstation capabilities and temporal synchronization among different media. In order to evaluate the functions of the suggested human interface, two applications are introduced and developed on the prototyped multimedia information network.”
“Hypermedia systems offer great promise for capturing expertise and subsequently providing multifaceted access in support of a user engaged in a complex task. A primary issue in building such systems is how to structure the knowledge contained in them such that a user with a problem can find the most appropriate knowledge easily and naturally. Our artificial intelligence-based research has produced two approaches to structuring knowledge that show promise for organizing hypermedia knowledge bases. The first is the use of abstract models of a user's problem solving task to provide a global structure for the knowledge base and to reflect that structure in a meaningful human interface to the system. The second is the use of a conversational model to provide local coherence of the links among pieces of information in the knowledge base. These two types of models have been applied in the construction of Trans-ASK, a large hypermedia system in the domain of military transportation planning. This paper discusses the theory underlying the models, their application within Trans-ASK, and finally provides a preliminary evaluation of the resulting system.”
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Computer programs emerge as the outcome of complex human processes of cognition, communication and negotiation, which serve to establish the meaningful embedding of the computer system in its intended use context.
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Mar 20th, 2010
