Abstract
As the amount of information technology increases, managing information resources, so that the correct people can find the information easily, becomes a critical issue. Hypermedia systems are considered one solution to this problem as they provide a means for representing higher level relationships between the underlying information. However, the amount of information available electronically is increasing at an accelerated rate. Using standard hypermedia authoring techniques, the effort required managing and maintaining large-scale hypermedia systems is enormous. Hypermedia authoring in the large requires new methodologies if it is going to be feasible.
This paper presents a new model for building and structuring large-scale hypermedia applications. It describes a case study that explored the delivery of hypermedia information in an industrial environment on a small scale. Models and techniques developed for that case study were then refined and augmented so they could support the construction of large-scale hypermedia systems. In order to support such endeavors a new linking model is presented that allows the author to explicitly represent abstract concepts contained within the underlying information and interconnect them in some meaningful manner. A prototype system applying this linking technique is presented.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
J. Aichison and A. Gilchrist, “Thesaurus construction-A practical manual,” The Association for Information Management, London EC3A 7PB, 1972.
N.D. Beitner, “Microcosm++: Development of a loosely coupled object-based architecture for open hypermedia systems,” Ph.D. Thesis, University of Southampton, 1995.
A. Borgida, “Description logics in data management,” IEEE Trans Knowledge and Data Engineering, Vol. 7, No. 5, pp. 671–782, 1995.
R.M. Crowder, W. Hall, I. Heath, R. Bernard, and D. Gaskell, “A hypermedia maintenance information system,” IEE Computing and Control Engineering Journal, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 121–128, 1996.
R.M. Crowder, W. Hall, I. Heath, and R. Bernard, “ITE-Multimedia information systems as an operational interface within the advanced manufacturing environment,” Final Report. SERC Grant: GR/H 43038 University of Southampton.
R.M. Crowder and W. Hall, “Industrial Information Resource Management,” in Proc. Integration in Manufacturing, Galway, Ireland, 2–4 October 1996, pp. 206–214.
R.M. Crowder, G.B. Wills, I. Heath, and W. Hall, “The application of hypermedia in the factory information environment,” in Proc. IEE 5th International Conference on FACTORY 2000, Cambridge, UK, 2–4 April 1997.
D. Cunliffe, C. Taylor, and D. Tudhope, “Query-based navigation in semantically linked hypermedia,” in Proc. Hypertext'97, Southampton, 1997, pp. 87–95.
H.C. Davis, W. Hall, I. Heath, G.J. Hill, and R.J. Wilkins, “Towards an integrated information environment with open hypermedia systems,” in Proc. ECHT'92, Milan, Italy, 1992, pp. 181–190.
S.J. DeRose and D.G. Durand, Making Hypermedia Work, Kluwer Academic Publishers: Boston, 1994
A.M. Fountain, W. Hall, I. Heath, and G. Hill, “MICROCOSM: An open model for hypermedia with dynamic linking,” in Proc. European Conference on Hypertext, INRIA, France, pp. 298–311.
F. Garzotto, L. Mainetti, and P. Paolini, “Information reuse in hypermedia applications,” in Proc. Hypertext'96, Washington DC, 1996, pp. 93–101.
C. Goble, S. Haul, and S. Bechhofer, “Describing and classifying multimedia using the description logic GRAIL,” in Proc. SPIE Conference on Storage and Retrieval of Still Image and Video IV, San Jose, 1996.
R. Furuta and P.D. Stotts, “Programmable browsing semantics in trellis,” in Proc. Hypertext'89 Pittsburgh, 1989, pp. 27–42.
C.F. Goldfarb, The SGML Handbook, Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1990.
L.H. Hsu, P. Liu, and T. Dawidowsky, “A Multimedia Authoring-in-the-Large Environment to Support Complex Product Documentation,” Multimedia Tools and Applications, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 11–64, 1999.
P.H. Lewis, M.R. Dobie, and W. Hall, “Towards multimedia thesaurus support for media-based navigation,” in Proc. IDB-MMS'96, Amsterdam, 1996, pp. 83–90.
K.C. Malcolm, S.E. Poltrock, and D. Schuler, “Industrial strength hypermedia: requirements for a large engineering enterprise,” in Proc. Hypertext'91, San Antonio, 1991, pp. 13–24.
C.C. Marshall, “Two years before the mist: Experiences with aquanet,” in Proc. Hypertext'92, Milan, 1992, pp. 53–62.
C.C. Marshall, F.G. Halasz, R.A. Rogers, and W.C. Janssen, “Aquanet: A hypertext tool to hold your knowledge in place,” in Proc. Hypertext'91, San Antonio, 1991, pp. 261–275.
C.C. Marshall, F.M. Shipman III, and J.H. Coombs, “VIKI: Spatial hypertext supporting emergent structure,” in Proc. ECHT94, Edinburgh, 1994, pp.13–23.
H. Maurer, HyperG, and HM-Card. HyperG now Hyperwave, Addison Wesley: New York 1996, Chap. 27.
R. Weiss, B. Vélez, M.A. Sheldon, and C. Manprempre, “HyPursuit: A hierarchical network search engine”
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Heath, I., Wills, G., Crowder, R. et al. Towards A New Authoring Methodology for Large-Scale Hypermedia Applications. Multimedia Tools and Applications 12, 129–144 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009611506737
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009611506737