The World-Wide Web

2003

Abstract The Internet makes it possible to share information (eg text, image, audio, video and other formats of data) across the globe. In this paper we look at collaborative Internet environments for applications whose user interface is described by the W3C DOM–this can be expected to be a standard for browsers and other office tools and so of general importance.

1994

SHARE EUROPE SPRING …, 1994

Proceedings of the fifteenth ACM conference on Hypertext & hypermedia - HYPERTEXT '04, 2004

This paper presents Garnet, a novel spatial hypertext interface to a digital library. Garnet supports both information structuring -via spatial hypertext -and traditional information seeking -via a digital library. A user study of Garnet is reported, together with an analysis of how the organizing work done by users in a spatial hypertext workspace could support later information seeking. The use of Garnet during the study is related to both digital library and spatial hypertext research. Spatial hypertexts support the detection of implicit document groups in a user's workspace. The study also investigates the degree of similarity found in the full text of documents within such document groups.

2007

1996

The World-Wide Web has achieved global connectivity stimulating the transition of computers from knowledge processors to knowledge sources. But the Web and its client software are seriously deficient for supporting users' interactive use of this information. This paper presents two related designs with which to evolve the Web and its clients. The first is the WebBook, a 3D interactive book of HTML pages. The WebBook allows rapid interaction with objects at a higher level of aggregation than pages. The second is the Web Forager, an application that embeds the WebBook and other objects in a hierarchical 3D workspace. Both designs are intended as exercises to play off against analytical studies of information workspaces.

Networks of computers are changing the traditional roles of author, manufacturer, publisher, and distributor. A document written for one purpose can have many lives Electronic documents can be authored, maintained, distributed and read on-line. The line between documents and data bases is blurred. Network browsing tools give users new freedom to explore mass quantities of information. Often the task at hand is to locate information.

… of Management, Rutgers University, Newark, New …, 1993

CHAPTER 1 HYPERTEXT-AN INTRODUCTION (for cross-referencing purposes) or hierarchical (showing parent-child relationships). Activation of link markers display nodes. 2. Basic Features of a Hypertext System 1. A Graphical User Interface, with the help of browsers and overview diagrams, helps the user to navigate through large amounts of information by activating links and reading the contents of nodes. 2. An authoring system with tools to create and manage nodes (of multiple media) and links. 3. Traditional information retrieval (IR) mechanisms such as keyword searches, author searches etc. There are also attempts to incorporate structure queries along with content queries-retrieving a part of the hypertext network based on some user-specified criteria. 4. A hypermedia engine to manage information about nodes and links. 5. A storage system which can be a filesystem or a knowledge base or a relational database management system or an object-oriented database management system. 3. Systems and People The concept of hypertext has been around for a long time. The dictionary and the encyclopedia are very old forms of hypertext. These can be viewed as a network of textual nodes joined by referential links. The Talmud, with its heavy use of annotations and nested commentary, and Indian epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata (stories branching off to other stories) are ancient prototypes of hypertext representation. We will review some of the well-known systems which have been implemented and widely studied by researchers in understanding various issues related to hypertext. 3.1 Memex Bush is considered the "grandfather" of hypertext. He proposed a system called the "memex" as long ago as 1945 [Bush, 1945]. Though the system was never implemented, the concepts are still relevant to this day. Bush was concerned about the explosion of scientific literature which made it impossible even for specialists to follow developments in a field. He felt the need for a system that would help people find information more easily than was possible on paper. The Memex would store information on microfilm which would be kept on the user's desk. The desk would contain many translucent screens on which several microfilms could be projected for convenient reading. The would also be a keyboard and sets of buttons and levers. The Memex would have a scanner for user input of new material and it would also allow users to make handwritten marginal notes and comments. Apart from the conventional form of indexing, Bush proposed "associative indexing, the basic idea of which is a provision whereby any item may be caused at will to select immediately and automatically another. This is the essential feature of memex. The process of tying two items together is the important thing." [Bush, 1945]. 3.2 Augment/NLS As part of the Augment Project, primarily designed for office automation, Engelbart of SRI developed a system called NLS (oN Line System) which had hypertext-like features. This system was used to store all research papers, memos, and reports in a shared workspace that could be cross-referenced with each other [Engelbart, 1963]. In 1968, he demonstrated NLS as a collaborative system among people spread geographically. Intermedia supports the concept of webs, composite entities that have many nodes and links between them. A link can belong to one or more webs. It provides three types of navigation tools: paths, maps, and scope lines. It supports shared and concurrent access to documents based on a system of access permissions. Intermedia has been used in presenting two courses online-English literature and biology [Yankelovich et al., 1988]. 3.5 NoteCards NoteCards is a hypermedia system for designers, authors, and researchers to analyze information, construct models, formulate arguments, and process ideas [Halasz, 1988]. Its basic framework is a semantic network composed of notecards connected by typed links. It provides users with tools for displaying, modifying, manipulating, and navigating through the network. NoteCards contains four basic constructs: notecards, links, browsers, and fileboxes. Notecards contain information embedded in text, graphics, images, voice or other media. Links represent binary relationships between cards. Browsers display node-link diagrams of portions of the network. Fileboxes provide a mechanism to organize cards into topics or categories. NoteCards can be integrated with other systems running in the Lisp environment such as mail systems, databases, and expert systems. 3.6 KMS Knowledge Management System (KMS), a descendant of ZOG, was developed at Carnegie Mellon University. It was designed to manage fairly large hypertext networks across local area networks. KMS is based on the basic unit called the frame. A frame can contain text, graphics, or images. Frames are connected to other frames via links. Links are of two types: tree items to represent hierarchical relationships and annotation items to represent referential relationships. In KMS, there is no distinction between browsing and authoring modes. Users can make changes to a frame or create links at any time and these changes are saved automatically [Acksyn et al., 1988]. KMS supports features such as aggregation, keyword searching, tailorability, collaboration, concurrency control, data integrity and security. It has been used for collaborative work, electronic publishing, project management, technical manuals and electronic mail. 3.7 HyperTies HyperTies started as TIES (The Interactive Encyclopedia System) under the direction of Shneiderman at the University of Maryland's Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory. It provides authoring and browsing tools. A node may contain an entire article that may consist of several pages. Links are represented by highlighted words or embedded menus which can be activated using the keyboard or a touchscreen. Readers can preview links before actually traversing them. The user interface is relatively simple due to the original emphasis on museum information systems or kiosks. The commercial version is being used for a much wider spectrum of applications such as diagnostic problem solving, self-help manuals, browsers for libraries, and on-line help [Shneiderman, 1988].

Journal for Healthcare Quality, 1998

Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 1998

Proceedings of the First EthCITA E-Mail Conference, 1994

A description of the World Wide Web at a time (fall 1994) when it was in its infancy and primarily utilized as a technical publishing medium for academic institutes. Most links in the original paper are now broken, some relinking has been done to a representative page under the Internet Archive service.

1999

Abstract The need for friendly environments for effective information access is further enforced by the growth of the global Internet, which is causing a dramatic change in both the kind of people who access the information and the types of information itself (ranging from unstructured multimedia data to traditional record-oriented data). To cope with these new demands, the interaction techniques traditionally offered to the users have to evolve and eventually integrate in a powerful interface to the global information infrastructure.

Encyclopedia of Globalization, 2007

The "internet" refers to the global system of computer networks which are linked together through a common protocol. Although there are many diverse functions associated with internet technologies, the most significant and recurrent feature of the Internet is its role as a communication technology, allowing instantaneous global communication and access to information. The technologies themselves change rapidly, with new functions and applications arising with remarkable speed, making any discussion of the technology somewhat obsolete. The technologies associated with the Internet reflected global developments in communication technologies, and facilitated the worldwide transmission of information, making the Internet perhaps the ultimate technology associated with technology.

2020

In this paper we show how to handle and organize the large amount of information accessible through the Internet or other public communication networks in a hypertext environment. The C(K)onstance-Hypertext-System (KHS) uses typed units to indicate the differences and the content and structure of information, comprising text, forms, images pointers to external information. We show how to imbed Internet services, which usual require rather different interaction styles, such as point-to-point communication (e-mail query formulation (online databases) or browsing (Gopher) into the uniform interaction model of the KHS. The integration of Internet services in an open hypertext environment produces value-adding effects which are also discussed. (DIPF/Orig.)