Emergence and Evolution of
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
Emergence of Spatial
Hypertext
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
intelligent user
interfaces
Frank Shipman
computer-supported
cooperative work
hypertext
Xerox PARC
University of
Colorado
Texas A&M
University
Baylor College
of Medicine
College Station
First ACM
Hypertext
Conference
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
Frank Shipman
Xerox PARC
Frank Shipman
hypertext
University of
Colorado
Baylor College
of Medicine
Texas A&M
University
computer-supported
cooperative work
intelligent user
interfaces
hypertext
First ACM
Hypertext
Conference
Texas A&M
University
College Station
Hypertext and Expression
Hypertext allows expression of interconnections
between information.
– References, manuals, argumentation, literature
Navigational and semantic links require explicit
expression in formal representation.
– New ideas/designs often start as tacit
– Expression hindered by barrier of initial entry
Aiding creative expression
– Ease of “trying out” interconnections
– Constructive ambiguity
VIKI
Cathy Marshall, Frank Shipman,
Jim Coombs, and Mark LeMere
Xerox PARC and Texas A&M University
1993-1997
Structure Recognition in VIKI
Goal: to support users creation and use of
implicit structure.
Common structures from study of computational
and paper-based spaces
– Stacks
– Lists
– Composites
Spatial parser to recognize structures that users
perceive
Object Characteristics Used
for Recognition
x, y
position
height
width
type
Type Assignments for
Recognized Structures
Structure
Description
Type assigned
Stack
Overlapping,
homogenous
Same as
components
List
Aligned,
homogenous
Aligned,
heterogenous
Overlapping,
heterogenous
Same as
components
New type
Composites
Heap
New type
Example Layout
Horizontal List of
Composite
Vertical List
of
Composite
Vertical List
of
Object Position, Extent, and Type Information
Strategist
initializes tables
and statistics
Generates
Order of
Specialists
Specialist
Pipeline
Blackboard of
Shared Information
read
statistics
User-defined
object types
Statistics on types
add new
types
System-defined
composite types
Resulting Spatial Parse Tree
stack
vertical list
horizontal list
composite
vertical list
horizontal list
Using Recognized Structure
VIKI uses recognized structure to
• provide access to implicit structure
• support users in formalizing structure
Aid for users
• interacting with ephemeral structures
• creating composites and collections
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Example Application: Path Authoring
in VIKI
Scaling: Non-linear Views
1st Generation Spatial Hypertext
Support evolving interpretation through
emergent visual languages
Recognition of visual structure to aid
expression
Common tasks
– Information collection, organization, and
sharing (personal & collaborative)
– Process of information triage
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
2nd Generation Spatial Hypertext
Support for longer-term and larger-scale tasks
–
–
–
–
Navigable history
Links between spatial hypertexts
Semi-structured metadata representation
Metadata peeling and applicators
Support for presentation-oriented spatial
hypertexts
– Greater visual expressiveness, additional media
– Spatial hypertext via http servers
– Implicit types for objects
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
Summary: VKB
Characteristics of first generation use
– Authors & readers are the same person or
group
– Information space is byproduct rather than
artifact
New directions
– Presentation-oriented spatial hypertext
– Wide-area distributed spatial hypertext
– Uses of navigable history and history links in
documents
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
More Spatial Hypertext
Systems
ART used for Video Analysis
Kumiyo Nakakoji & Yasuhiro Yamamoto
Supporting
linear
authoring
tasks in
space
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
HyperMap
Antoon Verhoeven & Kai Warendorf
Placing information in space
Spatial navigation trails
Tinderbox
Mark Bernstein
Topos 3D Environment
Michael Bang Nielsen & Peter Ørbæk
Spatial parsing in three dimensions
VITE: Visualization & Parsing
Haowei Hsieh
WARP: Web-based Multi-model
Adaptive Spatial Hypertext
Luis Francisco-Revilla
Still more spatial
hypertext systems
CAOS (Olav Reinart, Dirk Bucka-Lassen,
Claus Pedersen, Peter Nurnberg)
– synchronous spatial hypertext and
incremental spatial parsing
ConceptLab (Rosemary Simpson)
– modifiable visual languages for displaying
multiple points-of-view (POV) and levelsof-detail (LOD)
Conclusions
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
Second generation spatial hypertext supports
presentation & distribution as well
– Publication-oriented spatial hypertexts
Resources on Spatial Hypertext
Workshops on Spatial Hypertext
– www.csdl.tamu.edu/~shipman/SpatialHypertext
VKB available at:
– www.csdl.tamu.edu/VKB/