An expertext system for collaborative authoring

This paper describes the principles behind and the design and implementation of a collaborative expertext authoring tool. The system presented aims to act as an intelligent assistant. It is based on a model of writing as a problem-solving activity, constrained by goal and audience, in which success depends on allowing the user to witch at will between the different phases of the task. Key to achieving this role is its ability to make explicit the implicit semantics of associative links in the hypertext. In order to guide the user, a knowledge base is provided by the system which an author can edit and which determines how the hypertext network is edited and traversed in the course of generating linear documents. In this way, minor modifications of the knowledge base can readily lead to significant reorganization of a document.     

Hypertext Access and the New Oxford English Dictionary

While hypertext access to the New Oxford English Dictionary would seem to be potentially beneficial, the conversion of such a text to a hypertext document and the generation of semantic links may not be feasible. Rather than attempting either the conversion of the text or the designation and storage of specific hypertext links, a prototype frontend called READER has been developed that provides hypertext access to the Dictionary. The emphasis in this work has been to provide the user with the browsing approach typical of hypertext rather than the more traditional query-oriented approach to accessing full-texts. The prototype is based on a dynamic hypertext model which facilitates browsing through the dynamic instantiation of implicit links existing in the text of the Dictionary.     

Metadoc: An adaptive hypertext reading system

Presentation of textual information is undergoing rapid transition. Millennia of experience writing linear documents is gradually being discarded in favor of non-linear hypertext writing. In this paper, we investigate how hypertext — in its current node-and-link form — can be augmented by an adaptive, user-model-driven tool. Currently the reader of a document has to adapt to that document — if the detail level is wrong the reader either skims the document or has to consult additional sources of information for clarification. The MetaDoc system not only has hypertext capabilities but also has knowledge about the documents it represents. This knowledge enables the document to modify its level of presentation to suit the user. MetaDoc builds and dynamically maintains a user model for each reader. The model tailors the presentation of the document to the reader. The three-dimensionality of MetaDoc allows the text presented to be changed either by the user model or through explicit user action. MetaDoc is more a documentation reading system rather than a hypertext navigation or reading tool. MetaDoc is a fully developed and debugged system that has been applied to technical documentation.     

From text to hypertext: A post-hoc rationalisation of LaTeX2HTML

The conventional hypertext authoring framework compels authors to represent their material as an interconnected network of nodes and links. Apart from the difficulties that this alone entails, the situation with HTML is even more problematic since the author is also responsible for mapping the abstract network model onto the computer file system. This is likely to hinder the widespread adoption of HTML by information owners who are finding it difficult not only to create but also to maintain coherent documents with complex interconnection topologies.In this paper it is argued that familiar document forms such as books, manuals, articles, reports, etc., often contain sufficient structural and cross-referential cues with which to build a rich hypertextual structure. It is shown how this structure can be automatically extracted and then realised as a collection of HTML files which can be explored using generated navigation panels. The conversion process and the advantages of this approach are illustrated with interactive examples using the LaTeX2HTML converter. Other unique features of LaTeX2HTML — mathematical equations and “conditional text” — are also discussed.Allowing authors to work with familiar metaphors and tools without compromising the flexibility afforded to them by the target hypertext system and delivery mechanism is perhaps the main reason for the growing popularity of text to hypertext conversion tools.     

Task-based method for creating usable hypertext

Although large hypertext documentation systems have many benefits in the commercial world, they can be difficult to build and use. To help overcome both these obstacles, a method under development at Hewlett-Packard assists authors in creating usable hypertext. A Wizard of Oz experiment was done with traditional on-line documentation and hypertext documentation to see what users liked and disliked. The experiment showed the need for a set of hypertext construction rules to ensure usability. Following these rules, and with computer assistance, authors are expected to do a task analysis of users' activities, to identify critical objects and create content nodes for them, to create links between nodes within clearly defined and cognitively justified limits, and to conduct usability tests on the resulting hypertext volume. Whilst this method recognises the importance of good clear writing, the rules and suggested prectices are not primarily about writing or screen design, but about creating a coherent navigational web that ensures success among commercial users of hypertext. The authoring system described in this paper has been developed for the HP Help system, which has been adopted as the common help delivery system for developers of Common Open Systems Environments on Unix-like platforms.     

Fast and effective soft links

Inspired by requirements traceability problems, we present a method for implementing fast and effective hypertext links to specific locations within documents. These soft links do not depend on tags, markup, or closed tool sets, yet they can generally survive extensive edits to a document collection, allowing the targets of these links to be located in real collections after years of ongoing and frequent changes. We base our implementation of soft links on an existing passage retrieval algorithm, originally designed for question answering. The method treats the text surrounding the target of a soft link as a passage to be retrieved, creates a signature for that passage, and resolves the link by searching for the passage. The method is evaluated over a large collection of text and two large collections of source code, one written in the C programming language and one written in Java. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Writing multiplicity: Hypertext and feminist textual politics

This article explores how hypertext might be used in the composition classroom to explore the gendered nature of text production. By exploring the theoretical connection between hypertext and feminist theory, this article suggests that writing multivocal hypertexts can help make students more aware of the multiplicity of their subject positions and the ways in which academic contexts try to silence those positions. Through a critical reading of a feminist, multivocal hypertext written by one of the authors, this article highlights both the successes and limitations of this theoretical premise. Although the article points to the ways both the academic context in which such hypertexts are situated and the nature of hypertextuality itself ultimately interfere with the writer's attempt to enact all aspects of a feminist intervention into textual politics, it concludes by recommending such a practice for the classroom. Despite its limitations, the process of creating such a text enacts many goals of a feminist classroom: finding a place for marginalized voices and interrogating the gendered power relations of academic discourse.     

A Comparative Study of Computer-Based Document Manipulation Techniques

Techniques to aid the manipulation of a computer-based document were tested by a group of 38 novice users. The subjects were given a period of time to browse the document (which employed a simple book metaphor), and were subsequently given a set of goal-related tasks in a question/answer session. The techniques tested were sequential paging, index referral, text find and embedded hypertext links. In the latter case, 3 differing types of link mechanisms were assessed and compared with each other. It was found that sequential paging and index referral were the most commonly used of the techniques. Text find was employed more for goal-related tasks than for browsing. The hypertext link technique was generally unpopular, especially for goal-related tasks. In order to establish the importance of the text find technique, the effect on reading strategies without this facility was also investigated. For browsing operations, an increase in paging and a decrease in hypertext linking was observed. In the case of goal-directed searching, an increase was observed in paging and index referral techniques.     

The relative effectiveness of hypertext and text

A series of two experiments was conducted. In Experiment 1, participant performance when using a hypertext electronic reference system was compared to using a conventional reference book. The links in this hypertext were based on the index entries in the corresponding 529‐page book. Specific topics and particular facts were located much faster and more accurately using the hypertext system than for the book. These advantages increased when participants searched for information that was either not included or referred to indirectly in the index. However, hypertext did not have an advantage over text on learning tasks. The conclusion was that hypertext is superior to text only for “reading‐to‐do” tasks similar to those a designer may perform when consulting a reference book. Experiment 2 compared user performance when the links corresponded exactly to the original index of a 545‐page textbook on ergonomics to performance when the links were generated by computer key‐word searches. Strong advantages were found in speed, accuracy, and subjective ratings for links based on the author's original index. It appears that these latter results can be attributed to the greater focus of the information provided by links based on the author's index. Users spent much less time browsing irrelevant sections of the book.     

Hypertextual border crossing: students and teachers,texts and contexts

Collaborative hypertext writing in the college classroom can underwrite a pedagogy rooted in the cultural hybridity bell hooks has argued is central to progressive educational methodology. This article offers a narrative of the collaborative creation of a HyperCard hypertext called the E.A.R., and describes how the ideas developed in that project were adapted into a first-year composition course. In exploring the creation of a collaborative hypertext, we hope to gain insight into both the larger aims of the border crossings central to hooks’ ongoing project and the more local goals of hypertext pedagogy.     

The Rhetoric of Hypertext

This study adopts as a fundamental orientation the view that hypertext may eventually bring about a paradigm shift in text delivery and in human information processing. However, paradigm shifts do not occur overnight; they are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Because of the considerable commitment of Western knowledge and culture to the written word and to linear text, it seems likely that successful hypertext systems will — at least in the beginning — electronically emulate many of the strategies a sophisticated reader uses in dealing with hard copy. This article describes a project which modeled the functionality an intelligent reader would bring to paper text (specifically, a maintenance manual), and designed and implemented a hypertext version of the document using Apple Computer's HyperCard.

Since few fully specified hypertext systems have been deployed, the research described here was undertaken to build a platform on which notions about the efficacy of non-linear text processing for a specific application could be tried out. This article describes a Stackware version of a portion of an aircraft maintenance manual and considers issues of (1) data storage models, (2) user interface, and (3) information retrieval methods for online text. These elements — among others — are the essence of the new rhetoric for non-sequential text.     

Interface Alternatives for Hypertexts

This paper seeks to make explicit the ranges of design choices among which authors select whenever they create a particular hypertext. These choices are grouped into five categories: the links authors provide which influence the routes that readers can take within the text; the design features relating to the initiation of jumps within the hypertext; the visual characteristics of the destination of a jump; the navigation support that can be offered to readers; the design implications of the tasks that people will be trying to accomplish using the hypertext. It is suggested that the interface characteristics which are most helpful for hypertexts written as tutorials may differ from those design features which benefit users wishing to gain access through hypertexts to large (encyclopaedic) information sources, or hypertexts used by people as a means of personal information management. Although there is little evidence about which design features work best in which circumstances, an understanding of the range of interface options may help authors appreciate the tradeoffs they often have to make when designing hypertexts.     

Imprudent linking weaves a tangled Web

Hypertext linking is often embraced uncritically by Web authors eager to explore the power of hypertext without first considering its effects on their readers' comprehension. Hypertext linking is not a substitute for thought-we think with ideas, not with dissociated snippets of raw information. Even the most germane bits of information cannot become ideas, regardless of how cleverly they are stacked, listed or linked. Ideas define relevance, provide context and establish patterns. With patterns, most concepts become intelligible, and we need continuity and stability of theme and context to recognize patterns. So, like most powerful technologies, hypertext links are a mixed blessing. Used improperly, they can be detrimental to Web sites. “Loose links” can drive away an audience, dilute the site's message, confuse the reader with irrelevant digressions and become a continuing maintenance headache for site authors and Webmasters     

Interactive information services using World-Wide Web hypertext

Most World-Wide Web information servers provide simple browsing access to collections of static text or hypertext files. This paper describes some interactive World-Wide Web servers that produce information displays and documents dynamically rather than just providing access to static files. The PARC Map Viewer uses a geographic database to create and display maps of any part of the world on demand. The Digital Tradition folk music server provides access to a large database of song lyrics and melodies. These applications take advantage of the multimedia capabilities of World-Wide Web to deliver graphical and audio content as well as formatted text. Hypertext links are used not only for navigation, but also for setting search and presentation parameters. In these applications the HTML format and the HTTP protocol are used like a user interface tool kit to provide not only document retrieval but a complete custom user interface specialized for the application.     

Scaffolding collaborative technical writing with procedural facilitation and synchronous discussion

With the advent of computer technology, researchers and instructors are attempting to devise computer support for effective collaborative technical writing. In this study, a computer-supported environment for collaborative technical writing was developed. This system (Process-Writing Wizard) provides process-oriented scaffolds and a synchronous online chat room to facilitate real-time collaborative writing practice. It allows multiple students to work synchronously on collaborative writing tasks via the Internet. It also helps develop collaborative writing strategies, such as creating team agendas, brainstorming, creating team outlines, and generating team articles. An experiment was conducted to examine the effect of the system on EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students’ collaborative writing experiences. First, an attitude questionnaire was used to evaluate learners’ perceptions, acceptance, attitudes, and continuing motivation toward the functionalities and guidance provided by the system. Second, students’ writing products were examined to evaluate the effect of the system on EFL students’ collaborative writing quality, especially on content and organization. Finally, this study analyzed and coded students’ synchronous chats with three categories (article-related interactions, social interactions, and system operation-related interactions) to evaluate the effect of the system on students’ interactions. The results of the experiment showed: (1) the students had positive attitudes toward the system and continuing motivation to use the system in future writing tasks; (2) analysis of writing products suggested that students produced better content and organization with the support of the system; (3) the procedural facilitation provided by the system successfully scaffolded students to converse more in the category of article-related interactions. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.     

The electronic business card: an experiment in half-dead hypertext

Abstract

Half-dead hypertext has links where the user has to do some work to retrieve the destination nodes (for example mount a CD-ROM or send an email message). Also, response times may be so slow that users do not have the normal hypertext feeling of freely navigating an information space. This is in contrast to normal live hypertext where the nodes appear immediately upon activation of a link anchor and dead hypertext where the links are simple cross-references to material that is not available on the computer and thus cannot be retrieved at all. Half-dead hypertext can be used in cases where live links are technically difficult or impossible to support. One example is the electronic business card, which is a link to further information about its owner. Electronic business cards can be transmitted between personal digital assistants and will allow the recipient to link to much more extensive information than can be transmitted and stored on a PDA platform. Also, electronic business card links can be printed in brochures, research papers, and other non-electronic media from which access to the server can be made with human intervention.     

How information organisation affects users' representation of hypertext structure and content

Previous studies have shown that hypertext users generate a mental representation of the hypertext structure and content. This study examines how information organisation in hypertext affects users' comprehension of the hypertext structure and content of the text. In a 2 × 2 factorial design text interconnectedness (low vs. high) and coherence (coherent vs. incoherent) were manipulated. Users' mental representations were accessed by various tests such as card sorting, summary writing and questionnaires. Results showed that participants' representation of hypertext structure and content was better under the coherent than under the incoherent condition. Interconnectedness did not have an effect on users' representation. Recommendations for hypertext designers are discussed.     

An Experiment on the Integration of Hypertext within a Multi-User Text Retrieval System

Currently, few hypertext systems allow an author to incorporate electronic textual information into a hyperdocument without first copying it from the environment in which it is stored. In order to extend a hyperdocument, an author must either manually type in the new information or import a copy of the text. To avoid this inconvenience and thus improve the user's efficiency of operation, hypertext systems must be integrated into other environments so that an author can incorporate existing text into a hyperdocument without the necessity of duplicating the text. This paper presents the results of an investigation into how hypertext could be integrated within a multi user text retrieval system and describes the design and implementation of a prototype system called Hyperbrowser.     

The interfunctionality of talk and text

Understanding more about how socially distributed cognition operates within a group of writers has implications for the design of technologies to support collaborative writing. This paper presents a chronology of a writing episode in which the communicative practices of collaborating writers and the representations they use to mediate cognition are investigated. The talk generated by the participants discussing how to write an essay provides data for illuminating the group's interactions and is a focus for investigating how this talk becomes metamorphosed into writing. The analysis charts the evolution of a co-authored text through a cycle of activity which is both cognitive and social in orientation and demonstrates the interfunctionality of talk and text for the processes involved in collaborative writing. This suggests that computer systems which support only text-based communication could limit the ways in which talk acts as a mediator for cognition and thus constrain important aspects of collaborative writing.