Experiences and Directions in Spatial Hypertext Frank Shipman Department of Computer Science & Center for the Study of Digital Libraries Texas A&M University

What is Spatial Hypertext? Hypertext but spatial … so what is hypertext? Hypertext (or hypermedia) is: 1.systems that present the same text (media) in multiple contexts 2.systems that enable the communication of relationships between documents

Early Timeline of Hypertext 1945 – Vannevar Bush describes the Memex in “As We May Think” 1960s – Douglas Engelbart creates Augment 1960s – Ted Nelson uses the term “hypertext” to describe interconnected body of literature 1980s – Many hypertext systems –KMS, Document Examiner, HyperTies, Guide, NoteCards, Storyspace, Thoth, HAM, VNS, … –Growing use of the map to provide context

Page-Based Hypertext Frank Shipman Dr. Shipman has been researching hypertext, computer-supported cooperative work, and intelligent user interfaces since 1987 at Baylor College of Medicine, University of Colorado, Xerox PARC, and now Texas A&M University. The field of hypertext includes computer scientists, literary theorists, and writers. The first ACM Hypertext Conference took place in 1987 … Texas A&M University, located in College Station, has 43,000 students …

Map-Based Hypertext Observations of Xerox NoteCards activities found heavy use of maps. Aquanet designed to make the map the primary interface (instead of browser) Late 80s – map-based hypertext –gIBIS, Aquanet, Sepia –Argumentation and knowledge building –Schemas as map legends

Map-Based Hypertext First ACM Hypertext Conference College Station Texas A&M University Xerox PARC University of Colorado Baylor College of Medicine Frank Shipman hypertext computer-supported cooperative work intelligent user interfaces

Spatial Hypertext Observations of Aquanet activities showed links implied rather than explicitly expressed. VIKI designed to support building and manipulating implicit spatial relations 1993 – first spatial hypertext –VIKI: a visual and kinesthetic analysis tool Emerged into research area: –HyperMap, CAOS, Manufactur, VKB, Tinderbox, ART, …

Spatial Hypertext First ACM Hypertext Conference College Station Texas A&M University Xerox PARC University of Colorado Baylor College of Medicine Frank Shipman hypertext computer-supported cooperative work intelligent user interfaces Frank Shipman hypertext Texas A&M University

Visual Knowledge Builder Frank Shipman, Haowei Hsieh, J. Michael Moore, Anna Zacchi, Robert Airhart, Raghu Akkapeddi, Preetam Maloor, Divya Shah, Kevin Gupton Center for the Study of Digital Libraries & Department of Computer Science Texas A&M University 1997-present

Navigable History Problem: inconsistent use of visual cues, interpreting ambiguous layouts Solution: return to context of interpretation Edit history with multiple navigation methods: –VCR, slider (relative), timestamp (absolute), per object/event navigation “Constructive” notion of information space

Links through Space and Time Why add links? –Links within information space release author from strict hierarchy –Links to other spaces aid scale / distribution Navigational issue: –Navigation in space is more complicated than navigation on page –How to backtrack? What to keep? Addition: Links can point into history of space

Personal Collection Creation and Use Getting content in VKB –Embedded Search for NSDL and Google –Drag-and-drop file system folders –Metadata peeling for files, jpg, mp3, search results Comprehension and modification of content –Metadata visualization of NSDL search results –Metadata extraction and applicators –Mouse-based browsing of content (including mp3 collections)

Metadata Extraction and Application Goal: to allow easy and consistent metadata authoring. Select objects as source for extracting metadata attributes and values Menubar of applicators is updated to allow attaching same metadata to other objects.

Experiences Note-taking, individual authoring tasks Organizational tasks –Project management –Conference organization Group authoring tasks –Poetry, scripts, dual-voice essays “Real”-world use –Students, researchers, writers, poets

Wide-Area Distributed Spatial Hypertext

VKB Finale VKB includes features to enable the creation and use of personal collections. –Embedded search, drag-and-drop folders, and metadata peeling to get information into the system –Metadata visualization, metadata extraction and applicators, and mouse-based browsing of contents for comprehension and use –Study indicates people see value in spatial hypertext for collecting and organizing information resources

Spatial Hypertext Systems: Current Directions

WARP: Web-based Multi-model Adaptive Spatial Hypertext Luis Francisco-Revilla

VITE: Visualization & Parsing Haowei Hsieh

Hyper-Hitchcock Frank Shipman, Andreas Girgensohn, Lynn Wilcox Workspace used for authoring hypervideo Explicit links for navigational structure Spatial layout for ordering of clips into linear video sequences

Summary (Spatial Hypertext) Spatial hypertext enables emergent expression –Evolving visual languages –Collection, analysis and organization tasks Features of spatial hypertexts –Multitasking via collections or non-linear views –Implicit structure recognition –Navigable history, links through space and time Spatial hypertext supports presentation & distribution as well –Publication-oriented spatial hypertexts

Resources on Spatial Hypertext Workshops on Spatial Hypertext – VKB available at: –