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SEMINAR ANNOUCEMENT


UNC CS Department, CS 290-059, Spring 1993

HYPERTEXT MODELS AND SYSTEMS 

David Stotts
  stotts@cs.unc.edu, 962-1833, office 149 Sitterson
  contact me for more information

meeting time:  once a week, most likely Monday 3:00 -- 5:00.
place:         Sitterson Hall, room 325
next meeting:  Monday, 1/18
  We will discuss next Monday 2 papers by Vanevar Bush and one by Jeff 
  Conklin (see reading list below) as background before getting into 
  more recent research topics in subsequent classes.


Hypertextual information systems were first envisioned by Vannevar Bush,
science advisor to Roosevelt, and they have been researched since the
mid-60's, but only in the last decade have computing resources become
powerful and cheap enough for hypertext systems to proliferate and find 
broad application.  In this seminar, we will be studying hypertext models, 
systems, and the information structures created and manipulated by such.  

Hypertext is a broad term for the integration of task with information.  
In this sense, a hypertextual structure is a value-added database or 
value-added information retrieval system.  The simple abstract view of 
hypertext is a network (graph) of information nodes, but this network 
is meant to be "browsed" and interacted with in ways that traditonal 
databases and information systems are not.  Visions for the eventual 
application of hypertextual structures extend from small single-author 
documentation to multi-author, multi-user "world wide webs" of data.
Hypertextual forms range from straight-forward linked documents (very
little integrated task expressed) to large-grained parallel algorithm 
(large amounts of integrated task expressed).  Hypertextual structures 
have been used for program browsers and execution simulators, decision
support systems, legal argument and mathematical proof presentations, 
software engineering support tools (design review, requirements,
process models), and interfaces to databases, to name a few.

A rough outline of topics follows:

      Models and formalisms
	Dexter
	HAM
	Garg's algebraic model
	Trellis
        Tompa's hypergraph model
	
      Systems
	KMS
	Notecards
	Intermedia
	Hypercard
	Hyperties
	Iris
	Trellis

      Implementation
	engines
	use of relational databases
	use of graph servers

      Issues
	Halasz' seven (ten) outstanding research issues
	query methods
	authoring/construction methods
	browsing methods

      Application areas
	hyperbases
	interactive data documents
	hypermedia
	collaborative processes 
	

We will study papers from the literature, meeting once a week for about 
2 hours to discuss our readings and projects.  In addition to reading 
and discussion, we will have several hands-on aspects to the course.  
There will be existing systems set up for students to use, and creation 
of hypertext documents in several systems will be required.  We will also 
have one or two research systems available and students will work on an 
implementation project of their choosing using one of these research 
systems.


=====================================================================
Class Readings (part 1)
=====================================================================

I will be probably be adding (and perhaps subtracting) readings as 
we go along, based on how the seminar develops and what the class 
interests are, but these are the papers we will start with.

I will make a copy of each available for you to Xerox from (in an 
envelope hanging on my office door) as I assign the reading, or you 
can find them yourself.  We do not have a Xeroxing account for the 
class, so you are on your own for costs.

Note that several of the papers are all from one issue of the
CACM, July 1988.

=====================================================================

V. Bush, "As we may think," 
Atlantic Monthly, vol. 176, no. 1 (July 1945), pp. 101-108.

V. Bush, "Memex revisited," in "Science is Not Enough," 
William Morrow Publishers, New York, 1967, pp. 75-101.

J. Conklin, "Hypertext: A survey and introduction," 
IEEE Computer, vol. 20, no. 9 (September 1987), pp. 17-41.

| F. Halasz, "Reflections on NoteCards: Seven issues for the next
| generation of hypermedia systems," 
| CACM, vol. 31, no. 7 (July 1988), pp. 836-852.
|
| P. K. Garg, "Abstraction mechanisms in hypertext," 
| CACM, vol. 31, no. 7 (July 1988), pp. 862-870.
|
| R. Akscyn, D. McCracken, and E. Yoder, "KMS: A distributed 
| hypermedia system for managing knowledge in organizations,"
| CACM, vol. 31, no. 7 (July 1988), pp. 820-835.
|
| A. Van Dam, "Hypertext '87 Keynote Address,"
| CACM, vol. 31, no. 7 (July 1988), pp. 887-895.
|
| B. Campbell and J. Goodman, "HAM: A general-purpose hypertext 
| abstract machine," CACM, vol. 31, no. 7 (July 1988), pp. 856-861.

| F. Halasz and M. Schwartz, "The Dexter Hypertext Reference Model,"
| Proceedings of the Hypertext Standardization Workshop, NIST,
| Gaithersburg, MD, Jan. 16-18, 1990, pp. 95-133.
| 
| D. Lange, "A formal model of hypertext," 
| Proceedings of the Hypertext Standardization Workshop, NIST,
| Gaithersburg, MD, Jan. 16-18, 1990, pp. 145-166.

| P. D. Stotts and R. Furuta, "Petri-net based hypertext: Document 
| structure with browsing semantics,"
| ACM TOIS, vol. 7, no. 1 (January 1989), pp. 3-29.
|
| F. W. Tompa, "A data model for flexible hypertext database systems,"
| ACM TOIS, vol. 7, no. 1 (January 1989), pp. 85-100.
|
| D. Egan, et al., "Formative design evaluation of SuperBook,"
| ACM TOIS, vol. 7, no. 1 (January 1989), pp. 30-57.

R. Trigg and M. Weiser, "TEXTNET: A network-based approach to text 
handling," ACM TOOIS (now TOIS), 4, 1 (Jan. 1986), pp. 1-23.

N. Delisle and M. Schwartz, "Contexts--A partitioning concept for 
hypertext,"  ACM TOOIS (now TOIS), 5, 2 (April 1987), 168-186.

N. Yankelovich, B. Haan, N. Meyrowitz, and S. Drucker, "Intermedia: 
The concept and the construction of a seamless information environment,"
IEEE Computer, 21, 1 (January 1988), pp. 81-96.

N. Yankelovich, N. Meyrowitz, and A. van Dam, "Reading and writing the 
electronic book,"  IEEE Computer, 18, 10 (October 1985), pp. 16-30.