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Revision as of 04:15, 16 September 2004 by Coolcaesar (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)In computing, hypertext is a user interface paradigm for displaying documents which contain automated cross-references to other documents called hyperlinks. Selecting a hyperlink causes the computer to display the linked document within a very short period of time.
A document can be static (prepared and stored in advance) or dynamically generated (in response to user input). Therefore, a well-constructed hypertext system can encompass, incorporate or supersede many other user interface paradigms like menus and command lines, and can be used to access both static collections of cross-referenced documents and interactive applications. The most famous implementation of hypertext is the World Wide Web.
The term "hypertext" is often used where the term hypermedia would be more appropriate.
History
All major histories of hypertext start with 1945, when Vannevar Bush wrote an article in The Atlantic Monthly called "As We May Think," about a futuristic device he called a Memex. He described the device as mechanical desk linked to an extensive archive of microfilms and able to display books, texts or any document from the library, and further able to automatically follow references from any given page to the specific page referenced.
Most experts do not consider the Memex to be a true hypertext system. The Memex, its creator, and its creator's understanding of the structure of information were all severely flawed. However, the story starts with the Memex because "As We May Think" directly influenced and inspired the two men generally credited with the invention of hypertext, Ted Nelson and Douglas Engelbart.
Nelson coined the word "hypertext" in 1965 and helped Andries Van Dam develop the Hypertext Editing System in 1968 at Brown University; Engelbart had begun working on his NLS system in 1962 at Stanford Research Institute, although delays in obtaining funding, personnel and equipment meant that its key features were not completed until 1968.
The HyperCard application introduced for the Apple Macintosh in 1987 helped to popularize the concept of hypertext with the general public (although HyperCard was technically a hypermedia system since its hyperlinks originated only from regions on the screen).
However, all the earlier hypertext systems were quickly overshadowed by the success of Tim Berners-Lee's World Wide Web, even though the latter lacked many features of those earlier systems such as typed links, transclusion and source tracking.
Academic Conferences
One of the top academic conferences for new research in hypertext is the annually held ACM's Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia (HT).
Although not exclusively about hypertext, the World Wide Web series of conferences, organized by IW3C2, includes many papers of interest. There is a list with links to all conferences in the series.
See also
- Timeline of hypertext technology and human-computer interaction projects and developments.
- HTML
- See The Hypertext Conferences
- External Link to Original Vannevar Bush,"As We May Think," Article and Memex Animation
Reading
Byers, T. J. (1987, April). Built by association. PC World, 5, 244-251. Crane, Gregory. (1988). Extending the boundaries of instruction and research. T.H.E. Journal (Technological Horizons in Education), Macintosh Special Issue, 51-54.
Heim, Michael. (1987). Electronic Language: A Philosophical Study of Word Processing. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Nelson, Theodor H. (1973). A Conceptual framework for man-machine everything. National Computer Conference and Exposition, June 4-8, 1973, Mew York, NY. AFIPS Conference Proceedings VOL. 42 (pp. M22-M23). Montvale, NJ: AFIPS Press.
Van Dam, Andries. (1988, July). Hypertext '87 keynote address. Communications of the ACM, 31, 887-895.
Yankelovich, Nicole, Landow, George P., and Cody, David. (1987). Creating hypermedia materials for English literature students. SIGCUE Outlook, 20(3).