Hypertext

Definition

• A hypertext is (physically) a non-linear text.

• Hypertext is not just HTML.

• Hypertext systems allow users to author, edit and follow links between different bodies of text. Hypermedia systems, are similar to hypertext systems, except that the user can use other forms of media as well.

Hypertext in education

Hypertext requires the reader to be an active participant in the evolution of the learning path and therefore are of interest to various constructivist designs.

• Cognitive flexibility theory that focusses on the nature of learning in complex and ill-structured domains and builds on top of cognitivist thinking shows interest for hypertext technology.

• Exploratory learning designs

History

This is a very incomplete timeline:

1. 1945: V. Bush, As We May Think
2. 1965: Ted Nelson invents the word "Hypertext"
3. 1968: [Engelbart] demoes "HyperMedia" over the network
4. 1981: Start of Ted Nelson's [Xanadu project] which never managed to take off, however there finally was an available implementation in 1999 (?)
5. 1992 First commercial hypertext system by Eastgate (still sold as [Storyspace])
6. 1989: Tim Berners-Lee builds the first prototype of the WWW and invents HTML, formally as a SGML application.
7. 1991: Gopher (Menu-based navigation through files and services on the Internet)
8. 1992-1993: The WWW starts spreading
9. 1992 / 1997 [Hytime] is a complex SGML application. Hytime is an ISO standard that has rarely been used, but it had a big influence on the definition of more recent Web Standards like XLink.
10. Early 90' (?) Adaptive hypertexts
11. 1995 Ward Cunningham invented the first Wiki. Wikis are probably the only popular [[CMS]s that are compatible with the Hypertext concept.

(To do: add more recent developments + exotic hypertexts)

Examples

There are not many good hypertext examples on the Internet. Some exceptions are:

• The [Wikipedia
• [Beat's Biblionetz]
• The [Theory into Practise DataBase] (TIP)

References

• Bush,V. As We May Think, originally published in Atlantic Monthly, July 1995.
• Conklin, J. Hypertext: An Introduction and Survey, IEEE Computer, vol. 1(9), pp. 17-40, September 1987.
• Cunningham, Patricia, S. Teacher Knowledge, Cognitive Flexibility and Hypertext: Case-Based Learning and Teacher Education, (on-line) Proceedings of the Second International Technological Directions in Music Learning Conference, http://music.utsa.edu/tdml/conf-II/II-Cunningham.html
• Landow, G.P. (1992). Hypertext: The convergence of contemporary critical theory and technology. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Spiro, R.J., Coulson, R.L., Feltovich, P.J., & Anderson, D. (1988). Cognitive flexibility theory: Advanced knowledge acquisition in ill-structured domains. In V. Patel (ed.), Proceedings of the 10th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. [1]

Links

• [Martin Ryder's collection of hypertext links]