Guided Tours and OnLine Presentation: How Authors Make Existing Hypertext Intelligible for Readers

1
Guided Tours and On-Line Presentation How
Authors Make Existing Hypertext Intelligible for
Readers

• Catherine Marshall
• Peggy M. Irish
• Hypertext 89 Proceedings

2
The Problem

• The structure and the content of a hypertext
  reflects the perception and understanding of its
  author about that content
• However, when the author and the reader are
  different persons then interpretation of the
  represented information can be difficult
• A non intuitive hypertext is an interactive
  medium with limited power

3
The Challenge

• The question is how we develop intelligible
  presentations for hypertexts
• Since hypertext borrows characteristics from
  different media we can employ existing techniques
  and conventions that deal with the problem of
  intelligibility
• However, how we tailor these techniques for
  hypertext?

4
NoteCards and Guided Tours

• Authors used the Guided Tours facility to test
  different methods for improving the
  intelligibility and navigation of a given network
  
• A Guided Tour is a graph-based interactive
  representation of the presentational structure of
  a NoteCard network
• It consists of
• Tour stops (tabletops), that are screenfuls of
  cards arranged in a specific layout
• Tour links, that connect the stops
• Buttons for navigation in the graph

5
Guided Tours in NoteCards
6
A tabletop
7
Information vs Metainformation

• Metainformation is any extra material that makes
  a hypermedia network more understandable.
• In Guided Tours metainformation is
• expository text,
• interpretation instructions of the tabletop cards
• descriptions of the tour structure
• text and annotations that offset the effects of
  fragmentation

8
Tabletop and Screen Conventions
9
Metainformation about the structure
10
Narration and Reference

• Narration indicates the perspective of the author
  about the presented information
• Two major problems in using narration
• Narration can have multiple goals e.g.
  discussion related to metainformation and
  discussion related to existing information ?
  Authors use different visual cues
• Narrative reference is not always intuitive
  because defining the scope of the reference is
  difficult ? Authors use graphical arrows and
  asterisks

11
Deictic Annotation in Guided Tours
12
Maintaining Coherence Context

• Two major problems in pursuing coherence and
  context in hypertext
• Information is not transitional
• Information is fragmented
• Authors applied the following techniques
• Sequential stops have related topic
• Stops with related topic have similar content
  layout and sometimes common cards (persistent
  cards)
• Tour spines, which are paths of the graph with
  minimal branching

13
Conclusions

• The hypertext community should focus on making
  network more intelligible and intuitive
• The authoring of the network presentation needs
  to be supported with new tools and techniques
• Readers and writers need to discuss and decide
  the conventions that will promote interactivity
  and awareness