Hypertext: Are we still not there yet? a hypertext

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HypertextAre we still not there yet?a
hypertext unkeynote

• Prof. dr. Paul De Bra
• Eindhoven University of Technology

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Hypertext, are we still not there yet?

• At HT98 we asked Are we here yet?
• What was the answer, and why?
• if yes then stop HT else continue HT
• What was the answer really (each year), and why?
• if yes then start making hypertext
  ubiquitous else continue to further develop
  hypertext
• In fact we kept saying No until HT2006
• Once we said Yes HT started doing well (again)

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Lets step back into history

• Vannevar Bush inventor of hypertext?As We May
  Think (Atlantic Monthly, 1945)But what did he
  really suggest
• The human mind operates by association.With
  one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the
  next that is suggested by the association of
  thoughts, in accordance with some intricate web
  of trails carried by the cells of the brain. It
  has other characteristics, of course trails that
  are not frequently followed are prone to fade,
  items are not fully permanent, memory is
  transitory.
• Selection by association, rather than indexing,
  may yet be mechanized. it should be possible to
  beat the mind decisively in regard to the
  permanence and clarity of the items resurrected
  from storage.
• www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1969/12/as-we
  -may-think/3881/

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Lets step back into history

• What did Bush really suggest (cont.)
• If affords an immediate step, however, to
  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 the
  memex. The process of tying two items together is
  the important thing.
• he runs through an encyclopedia, finds an
  interesting but sketchy article, leaves it
  projected. Next, in a history, he finds another
  pertinent item, and ties the two together. Thus
  he goes, building a trail of many items.
  Occasionally, he inserts a comment of his own,
  either linking it into the main trail or joining
  it by a side trail to a particular item
• There is a new profession of trail blazers, those
  who find delight in the task of establishing
  useful trails through the enormous mass of the
  common record.

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If Bush did not invent hypertext, who did?

• clue 1 who wrote

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If Bush did not invent hypertext, who did?

• clue 2 who wrote

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What is hypertext according to Ted Nelson?
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Some Basic Hypertext Ideas

• Hypertext connects all texts
• Xanadu magic place of literary memory
• Copying (even quoting) is evil why quote when
  you can show the original in-line?
• cross-reference links are a referral to
  information elsewhere (following the link takes
  you elsewhere)
• transclusions look like quotes but the original
  source is shown in-line its not a copy(note
  transclusion requires fine-grained addressing)
• (to avoid broken links) you can never really
  delete anything you can only create new versions

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Quick look at hypertext between 1960 and 1990

• Working hypertext
• Hypertext Editing System (1967), FRESS (1968)
• NLS, the oN-Line System (1968), successor of the
  Augment project to augment the human mind
• ZOG, first hypertext system with real
  application (1972 - 1982), used on the USS Carl
  Vinson
• Performance through simplicity
• KMS let you navigate quickly (hoping to reduce
  disorientation)
• Cards
• Nodes became cards in NoteCards (over 50
  types), later also in HyperCard (with programmed
  behavior)

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Quick look at hypertext between 1960 and 1990

• More and more functionality Intermedia
• linking protocol to integrate different
  applications (for different media) this is like
  mash-ups
• bidirectional links
• links not hardwired to nodes, users can create
  their own web of links
• Complete programmability HyperCard
• link is just the goto statement of a
  programming language link anchors are
  independent of content
• Link databases Hyperties
• database of anchor-destination pairs
• open hypermedia takes this idea further

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Some illustrations

• Intermedia web view
• Intermedia create link(and other options)
• HyperCard stacks

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So hypertext systems became sophisticated!

• All functionality of all systems represented in a
  model the Dexter Model (NIST Workshop, 1990)

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Essential Dexter elements/properties

• Components atom, link, composite component
• atom is an atomic fragment
• composite
• a page is a composite element (consists of atoms)
• an abstract composite component consists of other
  (smaller) components, either abstract or atoms(a
  composite with atoms is a page)
• link sequence of two or more endpoints
  (unidirectional, bidirectional or even
  undirected)
• Page selector when a link destination is
  abstract (composite) a page must be selected to
  be displayed
• Page constructor after a page is selected the
  presentation must be constructed from the atoms

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And then
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The (early) Web

• Tim Berners Lee (1989/1990) the Web as an aid
  for physicists for sharing documents
• Marc Andreessen (1992) the Mosaic browser made
  the Web read-only
• Key properties/limitations in the basic Web
• uni-directional links between single nodes
• links are not objects (have no properties of
  their own)
• links are hardwired to their source anchor
• only pre-authored link destinations are possible
• monolithic browser
• static content, limited dynamic content through
  CGI
• links can break
• no transclusion of text, only of images

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So why was this primitive Web successful?

• Simplicity
• Especially publishing was very simple (HTML)
• Availability
• Everyone could get it and use it (and it was
  free)
• Timeliness
• The Web became available when Unix and X-Windows
  became popular, and when Internet became
  available
• (Pure) Client-Server Architecture
• This was fitting for the typical computing
  infrastructure with powerful file servers and
  less powerful workstations

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Are we there yet? Take two ?

• 1990 (start of the Web) threw us back to pre-1960
• Two approaches to recover
• This is bad, lets build a better alternative.
• This is bad, lets make it better.
• Since 1990 we are working on the second
  approachIf you cant beat them, join them.
• Are we there yet? Have we integrated
  everything from 1960-1990 into the Web yet?
• but also Are we using everything from 1960-1990
  on the Web yet?

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So how do we get there?

• Take the Web browser and server for
  granted!Build extensions into this architecture
• browser plugins
• browser applets
• proxy services
• server side scripts
• servlets
• database back-end

• extend user interface,
• browser offers network int.

• change content on the fly

• select or compute content

• better storage

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Example GRAPPLE / GALE

• Overall GRAPPLE Infrastructure

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GRAPPLE Adaptive Learning Environment
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Things that make GALE into real hypertext

• Domain Model (DM) with concepts and relations
• for each concept there may be several resources
• concepts and resources identified by URI
• User Model (UM) with for each concept certain
  attributes (values)
• Links always refer to concepts
• page selection concept access involves
  (recursive) resource selection
• page construction page may contain
• conditionally included fragments
• conditionally included objects (object
  transclusion)

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Things that make GALE able to get there

• Spring configuration lets you change most things
• Processing is done by a pipeline of
  processors(LayoutProc., Loadproc., XMLProcessor,
  )
• XML adaptation is done by modules (one per tag)
• ltifgt for conditional fragments
• ltobjectgt for transclusion of objects (concepts)
• ltagt for adaptive links
• ltforgt for generating a list of elements
• ltvariablegt for selecting DM or UM info
• ltviewgt for arbitrary generated views over DM
• lttestgt for multiple choice tests (specific for
  e-learning)

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Example application Milkyway
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Are we there yet?

• Yes (for the most part) we are there. So
• Time to look into hypertext applications more
  closely
• Careful not to confuse hypertext with web
  application
• Time to look for new hypertext concepts that go
  beyond the state of the art from
  1990.Visionaries have already done so
• Semantic Web (web of data, leading to web of
  things)
• Multi-dimensional structures/browsing ZigZag
• Mobile applications, combining on-line
  location-aware communication and information
  sources
• what you will come up with!

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See you all

• at HT2011!