Hypermedia

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Hypermedia, an extension of hypertext, is a nonlinear medium of information that includes graphics, audio, video, plain text and hyperlinks. This designation contrasts with the broader term multimedia , which may include non-interactive linear presentations as well as hypermedia. The term was first used in a 1965 article written by Ted Nelson. [1] [2] Hypermedia is a type of multimedia that features interactive elements, such as hypertext, buttons, or interactive images and videos, allowing users to navigate and engage with content in a non-linear manner.

Contents

The World Wide Web is a classic example of hypermedia to access web content, whereas a conventional cinema presentation is an example of standard multimedia, due to its inherent linearity and lack of interactivity via hyperlinks.

The first hypermedia work was, arguably, the Aspen Movie Map. Bill Atkinson's HyperCard popularized hypermedia writing, while a variety of literary hypertext and non-fiction hypertext works, demonstrated the promise of hyperlinks. Most modern hypermedia is delivered via electronic pages from a variety of systems including media players, web browsers, and stand-alone applications (i.e., software that does not require network access). Audio hypermedia is emerging with voice command devices and voice browsing. [3]

Development tools

Hypermedia may be developed in a number of ways. Any programming tool can be used to write programs that link data from internal variables and nodes for external data files. Multimedia development software such as Adobe Flash, Adobe Director, Macromedia Authorware, and MatchWare Mediator may be used to create stand-alone hypermedia applications, with emphasis on entertainment content. Some database software, such as Visual FoxPro and FileMaker Developer, may be used to develop stand-alone hypermedia applications, with emphasis on educational and business content management.

Hypermedia applications may be developed on embedded devices for the mobile and the digital signage industries using the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) specification from W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). Software applications, such as Ikivo Animator and Inkscape, simplify the development of hypermedia content based on SVG. Embedded devices, such as the iPhone, natively support SVG specifications and may be used to create mobile and distributed hypermedia applications.

Hyperlinks may also be added to data files using most business software via the limited scripting and hyperlinking features built in. Documentation software, such as the Microsoft Office Suite and LibreOffice, allow for hypertext links to other content within the same file, other external files, and URL links to files on external file servers. For more emphasis on graphics and page layout, hyperlinks may be added using most modern desktop publishing tools. This includes presentation programs, such as Microsoft PowerPoint and LibreOffice Impress, add-ons to print layout programs such as Quark Immedia, and tools to include hyperlinks in PDF documents such as Adobe InDesign for creating and Adobe Acrobat for editing. Hyper Publish is a tool specifically designed and optimized for hypermedia and hypertext management. Any HTML editor may be used to build HTML files, accessible by any web browser. CD/DVD authoring tools, such as DVD Studio Pro, may be used to hyperlink the content of DVDs for DVD players or web links when the disc is played on a personal computer connected to the internet.

Learning

There have been a number of theories concerning hypermedia and learning. One important claim in the literature on hypermedia and learning is that it offers more control over the instructional environment for the reader or student.[ citation needed ] Another claim is that it levels the playing field among students of varying abilities and enhances collaborative learning.[ citation needed ] A claim from psychology includes the notion that hypermedia more closely models the structure of the brain, in comparison with printed text. [4]

Application programming interfaces

Hypermedia is used as a medium and constraint in certain application programming interfaces. HATEOAS, Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State, is a constraint of the REST application architecture where a client interacts with the server entirely through hypermedia provided dynamically by application servers. This means that in theory no API documentation is needed, because the client needs no prior knowledge about how to interact with any particular application or server beyond a generic understanding of hypermedia. In other service-oriented architectures (SOA), clients and servers interact through a fixed interface shared through documentation or an interface description language (IDL).

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language</span> XML-based markup language for multimedia presentations

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyperlink</span> Method of referencing visual computer data

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slicing (interface design)</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">UdiWWW</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of hypertext</span>

Hypertext is text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access, usually by a mouse click or keypress sequence. Early conceptions of hypertext defined it as text that could be connected by a linking system to a range of other documents that were stored outside that text. In 1934 Belgian bibliographer, Paul Otlet, developed a blueprint for links that telescoped out from hypertext electrically to allow readers to access documents, books, photographs, and so on, stored anywhere in the world.

The Web platform is a collection of technologies developed as open standards by the World Wide Web Consortium and other standardization bodies such as the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group, the Unicode Consortium, the Internet Engineering Task Force, and Ecma International. It is the umbrella term introduced by the World Wide Web Consortium, and in 2011 it was defined as "a platform for innovation, consolidation and cost efficiencies" by W3C CEO Jeff Jaffe. Being built on The evergreen Web has allowed for the addition of new capabilities while addressing security and privacy risks. Additionally, developers are enabled to build interoperable content on a cohesive platform.

Modern HTML5 has feature-parity with the now-obsolete Adobe Flash. Both include features for playing audio and video within web pages. Flash was specifically built to integrate vector graphics and light games in a web page, features that HTML5 also supports.

Video browsing, also known as exploratory video search, is the interactive process of skimming through video content in order to satisfy some information need or to interactively check if the video content is relevant. While originally proposed to help users inspecting a single video through visual thumbnails, modern video browsing tools enable users to quickly find desired information in a video archive by iterative human–computer interaction through an exploratory search approach. Many of these tools presume a smart user that wants features to interactively inspect video content, as well as automatic content filtering features. For that purpose, several video interaction features are usually provided, such as sophisticated navigation in video or search by a content-based query. Video browsing tools often build on lower-level video content analysis, such as shot transition detection, keyframe extraction, semantic concept detection, and create a structured content overview of the video file or video archive. Furthermore, they usually provide sophisticated navigation features, such as advanced timelines, visual seeker bars or a list of selected thumbnails, as well as means for content querying. Examples of content queries are shot filtering through visual concepts, through some specific characteristics, through user-provided sketches, or through content-based similarity search.

References

  1. Nelson, Theodor (1965-08-24). "Complex information processing: A file structure for the complex, the changing and the indeterminate". Proceedings of the 1965 20th national conference. ACM '65. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 84–100. doi:10.1145/800197.806036. ISBN   978-1-4503-7495-8. Archived from the original on 2024-04-28. Retrieved 2024-04-07.
  2. Rettberg, Jill Walker. "Complex Information Processing: A File Structure for the Complex, the Changing, and the Indeterminate". Electronic Literature as a Model of Creativity and Innovation in Practice. Archived from the original on 2013-07-07. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  3. Goose, Stuart; Hall, Wendy (1995). "The development of a sound viewer for an open hypermedia system". New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia. 1 (1): 213–231. doi:10.1080/13614569508914668.
  4. Terry K. Borsook, Nancy Higginbotham-Wheat. A Psychology of Hypermedia: A Conceptual Framework for R&D. Archived 2012-06-06 at the Wayback Machine 1992. Retrieved August 3, 2010.

Further reading