Revisiting Hypertext Infrastructure

Abstract

Specialized systems aiming at o ering hypertext functionality in users' computing have been discussed since the early days of hypertext. However, with the claim to also support other structure domains than node-link structures, hypertext systems had to overcome some challenges. Researchers came up with component-based approaches and low level structure services. Due to the raising omnipresence of the Web, research on traditional hypertext systems has been fading out over the past decade. is paper focuses again on hypertext infrastructures and goes beyond ongoing Web discussions. Based on lessons learned from well thought through previous work, we present a novel design for multi-structure supporting, general purpose hypertext systems that can be used in a series of application domains. e system provides intelligence analysis which is needed for sophisticated user support. We argue that this lets us use the hypertext system also as a visual analytics tool. Furthermore, for demonstration purposes we describe the use of the system in combination with a Web-based so ware engineering platform, which is part of the ongoing project ODIN. CCS CONCEPTS •Human-centered computing →Hypertext / hypermedia; •So ware and its engineering →So ware infrastructure;

Mother

“…In line with our previous work [4], we discussed in this paper steps toward Dexter-based navigational hypertext support in Mother. We argued why and how we reduce Dexter to match the needs of a CB-OHS.…”

“…hypertext structures in mind. This approach appreciates the specific demands of implicit structures rather than explicit ones" [4]. Such implicit structures are supported by a spatial structure service in Asgard.…”

“…In our recent paper [4] we propose a component-based open hypermedia system, which we call Mother. It consists of three layers: (i) Midgard, hosting all applications that count as user interfaces or have similar functionalities; (ii) Asgard, a collection of Mother's (partly intelligent) components that deal with structures; and (iii) Hel, all knowledge-based components.…”

“…In Mother we removed both presentation specification and content from the node-link model. Those are handled by Midgard applications (see also discussion in [4]). Content (i. e., data from this point of view) lies outside Mother; the system keeps its focus on structure instead.…”

“…Years later, our system (which we call Mother) with its structureaware layer Asgard [4] became the first component-based open hypermedia system that was built primarily with the most challenging to handle hypertext structure type in mind: spatial structures. In this paper we describe Mother's support for navigational structures and its ability to interoperate with other structure services.…”