itrctor@csri.toronto.edu (Ron Riesenbach) (02/17/90)
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH CENTRE
is pleased to sponsor a one-day workshop on:
H Y P E R T E X T A N D H Y P E R M E D I A
Presented by:
Dr. Jakob Nielsen, Technical University of Denmark
Dr. Alberto Mendelzon, University of Toronto
Dr. Frank Tompa, University of Waterloo
April 17, 1990
Rm. 1105, Sandford Fleming Building
10 King's College Rd.
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario
What are Hypertext and Hypermedia?
Hypertext is an approach to information management in which text is
grouped into small non-sequential units and stored in a network of nodes
connected by links. The units of text are displayed through windows and
can be navigated by following links that interconnect them. Hypermedia is a
generalization of the hypertext concept in which the units of information
can be graphics, images, sound, animation, etc. as well as text. Applica-
tions of hypertext/hypermedia include electronic publishing, on-line manu-
als, project management, and issue analysis.
Objectives of the Workshop
This workshop will give attendees an introduction to the key concepts
in the fields of hypertext and hypermedia. The presentations and demons-
trations will provide an overview of various approaches and an evaluation
of their effectiveness. As well, this workshop will expose attendees to
two state-of-the-art systems, developed by ITRC researchers, which address
some of the limitations of current hypertext technology.
Audience
This is an introductory workshop. Participants need not have previous
knowledge of or experience with hypertext. Computing professionals,
managers, technical writers, and educators interested in writing hypertext
documents or including hypertext features in their systems will find this
workshop most useful.
Agenda
8:00 Registration and coffee
9:00 Opening Words
9:10 Introduction to Hypertext and Hypermedia I - Jakob Nielsen
10:30 Break
11:00 Introduction to Hypertext and Hypermedia II - Jacob Nielsen
12:30 Lunch
2:00 Querying Structures in the G+ Visual Database System - Alberto Mendelzon
3:00 The Oxford English Dictionary Project: Text Browsing Without Links -
Frank Tompa
4:00 End
Synopsis
Introduction to Hypertext and Hypermedia
Jakob Nielsen
This 3-hour tutorial will cover the following topics:
o Definition of hypertext and hypermedia.
o Survey of hypertext applications.
o Survey of existing hypertext systems with several demonstrations.
o User interface issues and problems in hypertext.
o Empirical tests of the usability of hypermedia systems and documents.
o Navigating large information spaces.
o Automatic transformation of linear text files into hypertext.
o Future developments in hypertext and hypermedia.
Querying hypertext structures in the G+ Visual Database System
Alberto Mendelzon
Current hypertext systems are heavily oriented towards browsing and
navigation, lacking query languages for the specification and manipulation
of arbitrary subsets of the network. Within the G+ project at the Univer-
sity of Toronto, we have designed a query language called GraphLog that
addresses this limitation. GraphLog queries are visually oriented; they
are formulated by drawing with a graph editor the patterns that are to be
searched for in the hypertext network. Each such pattern contains one dis-
tinguished edge. The effect of the query is to find all instances of the
pattern that occur in the hyperdocument and for each one of them define the
"virtual link" represented by the distinguished edge. The answers are
displayed visually in a variety of ways, selectable by the user.
We will discuss the design of the language and its user interface and
give examples of its application to several hypertext problems, emphasizing
the software engineering domain. We will demonstrate a GraphLog prototype
running on a MacII under Smalltalk-80.
The Oxford English Dictionary Project: Text Browsing Without Links
Frank Tompa
One specific influence of hypertext is to support non-linearity in
text: relating a point in one portion of the text with one or more points
located elsewhere. It is our belief that a static model of hypertext
structure is inadequate to represent widespread multi-faceted relationships
that are implicit in text. One alternative for determining related text
portions is through full-text search in conjunction with elastic text
display.
We will describe and demonstrate the PAT text searching engine and the
LECTOR text display sys-tem. For the 540 Mbyte OED2, a typical search finds
all matches and surrounding user-defined segments in 0.3 to 3.0 cpu seconds
on a Sun4, where-upon it can be displayed in any of several user-defined
modes.
The Presenters
Jakob Nielsen
Jakob Nielsen is Assistant Professor of user interface design at the
Technical University of Denmark. He is responsible for the human
factors/user interface program at this university, manager of the user
interface sub-project of the European Community DELTA SAFE project, and a
user interface consultant for several Danish and international companies in
computer, telecommunications, and financial industries. His research
interests include usability engineering and hypertext. Dr. Nielsen's ear-
lier affiliations include the IBM User Interface Institute in Yorktown
Heights, NY and Aarhus University, Denmark. He is the author of the book
Hypertext and Hypermedia (Academic Press 1990), the European Editor for the
ACM SIGCHI Bulletin, and on the editorial boards of the Hypermedia journal
and several user interface journals.
Alberto Mendelzon
Alberto Mendelzon holds M.A., M.S.E., and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton
University. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the IBM T.J. Watson Research
Center and has been since 1980 at the University of Toronto, where he is
now Professor of Computer Science and member of the Computer Systems
Research Institute. Dr. Mendelzon leads the ITRC G+ project as well as a
four-university project on Database Techniques for Knowledge Base Manage-
ment within the IRIS federal network of centres of excellence.
Frank Tompa
Frank Tompa is currently a Professor with the Department of Computer
Science at the University of Waterloo. He is a member of the Data Struc-
turing Group, a researcher with the ITRC, and a co-Director of the UW Cen-
tre for the New OED and Text Research. Prior to his appointment to the
Department in 1974, he attended Brown University, from which he received
B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Applied Math, and the University of Toronto,
from which he received a Ph.D. in Computer Science. In recent years, Pro-
fessor Tompa has been particularly interested in database design for
videotex systems and in the design of text management systems suitable for
maintaining large reference texts.
Registration and Fees
This workshop is free to members of ITRC's industrial affiliates pro-
gram. Non-affiliates fee is $250 per person (payable by cheque to "Infor-
mation Technology Research Centre"). Registration includes course notes,
lunch and refreshments.
To register, complete the form below. Mail or fax it to ITRC no later
than Thursday, April 12, 1990. Space is limited so early registration is
advised.
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Registration Form:
Workshop on Hypertext and Hypermedia
April 17, 1990
Name ________________________________________
Title ________________________________________
Organization ________________________________
Address _____________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Phone ________________ Fax _________________
E-mail _______________________________________
Registration Fee (check one):
__ ITRC Affiliate - No Charge
__ Non-affiliate - $250/person
Fax or mail this registration form to:
Rosanna Reid
Information Technology Research Centre
203 College St., Suite 303
Toronto, Ontario, M5T 1P9
Phone (416) 978-8558 Fax (416) 978-8597
*** Deadline, Thursday April 12, 1990 ***
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___________________________________________________________________________
This workshop is presented by the Information Technology Research Centre --
designated as a Centre of Excellence by the Province of Ontario through the
Premier's Council.
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