Jeff Conklin, one of the pioneers of hypertext, defines the essential advantage of non-linear text over linear text as the ability to organise text in different ways depending on different viewpoints. A hypertext system provides a user with a flexible working environment in whih the user can temporarily pause reading current material and look into some other material, an example or related topics.
Conklin (1987) lists the following advantages of hypertext :
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Machine support for link tracing means that all references are equally easy to follow forward or backward. |
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Users can grow their own networks or simply annotate someone else’s document with a comment (without changing the referenced document). |
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Both hierarchical and non hierarchical organisations can be imposed on unstructured information; even multiple hierarchies can organise the same material. |
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Browsers provide table of contents style views supporting easier restructuring of large and complex documents. Global and local views can be mixed effectively. |
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Text segments can be threaded together in many ways allowing the same document to serve multiple functions. |
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Since the same text segment can be referenced from several places an idea can be expressed with less overlap and duplication. |
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References are embedded in their text and if the text is moved, even to another documents, the link information still provides direct access to the reference. |
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The user is supported in having several paths of inquiry active and displayed on the screen at the same time. Any given path can be unwound to the original task. |
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Several authors can collaborate with the comments about the document being interwoven. |
Authored by Serengul Smith
E-mail to:
serengul1@mdx.ac.uk
School of Computing Science Middlesex University
Revised: September 1998