Educational hypermedia resources facilitator

Se analiza el impacto que la enseñanza en web ha tenido en la educación superior y las distintas herramientas que permiten la creación de documentos hipertexto como recursos de enseñanzaWithin the university the introduction of computers is creating a new criterion of differentiation between those who as a matter of course become integrated in the technocratic trend deriving from the daily use of these machines and those who become isolated by not using them. This difference increases when computer science and communications merge to introduce virtual educational areas, where the conjunction of teacher and pupil in the space-time dimension is no longer an essential requirement, andwhere the written text is replaced (or rather complemented) by the digital text. In this article a historical defence is made of the presence of this new standard in the creation of digital educational resources such as the hyperdocument, as well as the barriers and technological problems deriving from its use. Furthermore, HyCo, an authoring tool, is introduced which facilitates the composition of hypertexts, which arestored as semantic learning objects, looking for that through of a simple and extremely intuitive interface and interaction model, any teacher with a minimum knowledge of computer science has the possibility of transforming his or her experience and knowledge into useful and quality hypermedia educational resources

The Web That Wasn't: Xanadu and alternative approaches to hypertext

Projekt Xanadu je komplexní hypertextový systém předcházející World Wide Web, který doposud nebyl v plném rozsahu realizován. Cílem této práce je popsat vlastnosti systému Xanadu a kriticky zhodnotit možnosti, přínosy a limitace jejich přenesení do kontextu současného Webu. Po představení historického kontextu hypertextových systémů práce analyzuje projekt Xanadu ze dvou úhlů: jako soubor abstraktních návrhů a jako sérii dílčích softwarových prototypů. Práce definuje hlavní vlastnosti a cíle systému Xanadu, které jsou následně přeneseny do kontextu současného Webu s využitím nových webových standardů a technologií. Z dílčích navržených řešení je syntetizován návrh, který realizuje vlastnosti Xanadu v prostředí Webu.Project Xanadu is a complex hypertext system, a predecessor of the World Wide Web, which has not been implemented in its full potential. The goal of the thesis is to describe features of Xanadu and to critically evaluate implementation options of these features in the current Web with benefits and limitations of this approach. The thesis introduces a historical context of hypertext systems and analyzes Project Xanadu from two viewpoints: as a set of abstract designs and as a series of software prototypes. The thesis defines main features and goals of Xanadu and recontextualizes them for the current Web using new web standards and technologies. Based on the proposed solutions a new design is conceived which implements features of Xanadu in the context of the Web.Ústav informačních studií - studia nových médiíInstitute of Information Studies and Librarianship - New Media StudiesFilozofická fakultaFaculty of Art

Lost in the archive: vision, artefact and loss in the evolution of hypertext

How does one write the history of a technical machine? Can we say that technical machines have their own genealogies, their own evolutionary dynamic? The technical artefact constitutes a series of objects, a lineage or a line. At a cursory level, we can see this in the fact that technical machines come in generations - they adapt and adopt characteristics over time, one suppressing the other as it becomes obsolete. It is argued that technics has its own evolutionary dynamic, and that this dynamic stems neither from biology nor from human societies. Yet 'it is impossible to deny the role of human thought in the creation of technical artefacts' (Guattari 1995, p. 37). Stones do not automatically rise up into a wall - humans 'invent' technical objects. This, then, raises the question of technical memory. Is it humans that remember previous generations of machines and transfer their characteristics to new machines? If so, how and where do they remember them? It is suggested that humans learn techniques from technical artefacts, and transfer these between machines. This theory of technical evolution is then used to understand the genealogy of hypertext. The historical differentiations of hypertext in different technical systems is traced. Hypertext is defined as both a technical artefact and also a set of techniques: both are a part of this third milieu, technics. The difference between technical artefact and technical vision is highlighted, and it is suggested that technique and vision change when they are externalised as material artefact. The primary technique traced is association, the organisational principle behind the hypertext systems explored in the manuscript. In conclusion, invention is shown to be an act of exhumation, the transfer and retroactiviation of techniques from the past. This thesis presents an argument for a new model of technical evolution, a model which claims that technics constitutes its own dynamic, and that this dynamic exceeds human evolution. It traces the genealogy of hypertext as a set of techniques and as series of material artefacts. To create this geneaology I draw on interviews conducted with Douglas Engelbart, Ted Nelson and Andries van Dam, as well as a wide variety of primary and secondary resources

Addressing hypertext design and conversion issues

Hypertext is a network of information units connected by relational links. A hypertext system is a configuration of hardware and software that presents a hypertext to users and allows them to manage and access the information that it contains. Hypertext is also a user interface concept that closely supports the ways that people use printed information. Hypertext concepts encourage modularity and the elimination of redundancy in data bases because information can be stored only once but viewed in any appropriate context. Hypertext is such a hot idea because it is an enabling technology in that workstations and personal computers finally provide enough local processing power for hypertext user interfaces

The future of interactive literature

Interactive literature is a fresh form of literature that has not yet existed even for a hundred years, yet it has a wide history, jumping between continents and including a number of evolutionary steps. Its evolution is still ongoing and this thesis aims to map out where it might be headed next. The first part of the thesis focuses on unearthing the past of interactive literature in full, starting all the way from the first gamebook released in 1930 and making its way to the present. The second part builds on this by trying to see where it might be heading next. For this purpose a scenario-based questionnaire (focusing on technological advancements) was deployed on forums filled with both consumers and developers of interactive literature. Answers to the questionnaire ended up being quite few and biased towards developers so the results are analyzed with a grain of salt. Also past personal experience in writing interactive literature is discussed in order to provide a more writer-centric perspective into currently available tools and needs.Interaktiivinen kirjallisuus on tuore kirjallisuuden muoto, joka ei ole edes sata vuotta vielä, mutta sen historia on kattava, hyppien mantereelta toiselle lukuisien evoluution muotojen myötä. Tämä evoluutio on vieläkin menossa ja tämä tutkielma pyrkii selvittämään minkä muodon se ottaa seuraavaksi. Tutkielman ensimmäinen osa keskittyy interaktiivisen kirjallisuuden historian kokonaisvaltaiseen selvittämiseen. Tutkimus alkaa ensimmäisestä pelikirjasta, joka julkaistiin vuonna 1930 jatkaen siitä aina nykypäivään asti. Tutkielman toinen osa rakentaa edellisen päälle yrittäen selvittää mikä olisi seuraava askel historiassa. Tämän selvittämiseksi tutkielma käyttää skenaariopohjaista kyselyä, jota esitettiin erilaisilla foorumeilla, joiden käyttäjiin kuului niin interaktiivisen kirjallisuuden kuluttajia kuin kehittäjiäkin. Kyselyyn saatiin vain muutamia vastauksia jotka tulivat suurimmaksi osaksi kehittäjiltä, joten tulokset analysoidaan tämä huomioon ottaen. Kyselyn lisäksi myös kertynyttä henkilökohtaista kokemusta interaktiivisen kirjallisuuden kirjoittamisesta käydään läpi. Tämä tuo kirjoittaja läheisemmän näkökulman tarjolla oleviin työkaluihin ja tarpeisiin

Highly Interactive Web-Based Courseware

Zukünftige Lehr-/Lernprogramme sollen als vernetzte Systeme die Lernenden befähigen, Lerninhalte zu erforschen und zu konstruieren, sowie Verständnisschwierigkeiten und Gedanken in der Lehr-/Lerngemeinschaft zu kommunizieren. Lehrmaterial soll dabei in digitale Lernobjekte übergeführt, kollaborativ von Programmierern, Pädagogen und Designern entwickelt und in einer Datenbank archiviert werden, um von Lehrern und Lernenden eingesetzt, angepasst und weiterentwickelt zu werden. Den ersten Schritt in diese Richtung machte die Lerntechnologie, indem sie Wiederverwendbarkeit und Kompabilität für hypermediale Kurse spezifizierte. Ein größeres Maß an Interaktivität wird bisher allerdings noch nicht in Betracht gezogen. Jedes interaktive Lernobjekt wird als autonome Hypermedia-Einheit angesehen, aufwändig in der Erstellung, und weder mehrstufig verschränk- noch anpassbar, oder gar adäquat spezifizierbar. Dynamische Eigenschaften, Aussehen und Verhalten sind fest vorgegeben. Die vorgestellte Arbeit konzipiert und realisiert Lerntechnologie für hypermediale Kurse unter besonderer Berücksichtigung hochgradig interaktiver Lernobjekte. Innovativ ist dabei zunächst die mehrstufige, komponenten-basierte Technologie, die verschiedenste strukturelle Abstufungen von kompletten Lernobjekten und Werkzeugsätzen bis hin zu Basiskomponenten und Skripten, einzelnen Programmanweisungen, erlaubt. Zweitens erweitert die vorgeschlagene Methodik Kollaboration und individuelle Anpassung seitens der Teilnehmer eines hypermedialen Kurses auf die Software-Ebene. Komponenten werden zu verknüpfbaren Hypermedia-Objekten, die in der Kursdatenbank verwaltet und von allen Kursteilnehmern bewertet, mit Anmerkungen versehen und modifiziert werden. Neben einer detaillierten Beschreibung der Lerntechnologie und Entwurfsmuster für interaktive Lernobjekte sowie verwandte hypermediale Kurse wird der Begriff der Interaktivität verdeutlicht, indem eine kombinierte technologische und symbolische Definition von Interaktionsgraden vorgestellt und daraus ein visuelles Skriptschema abgeleitet wird, welches Funktionalität übertragbar macht. Weiterhin wird die Evolution von Hypermedia und Lehr-/Lernprogrammen besprochen, um wesentliche Techniken für interaktive, hypermediale Kurse auszuwählen. Die vorgeschlagene Architektur unterstützt mehrsprachige, alternative Inhalte, bietet konsistente Referenzen und ist leicht zu pflegen, und besitzt selbst für interaktive Inhalte Online-Assistenten. Der Einsatz hochgradiger Interaktivität in Lehr-/Lernprogrammen wird mit hypermedialen Kursen im Bereich der Computergraphik illustriert.The grand vision of educational software is that of a networked system enabling the learner to explore, discover, and construct subject matters and communicate problems and ideas with other community members. Educational material is transformed into reusable learning objects, created collaboratively by developers, educators, and designers, preserved in a digital library, and utilized, adapted, and evolved by educators and learners. Recent advances in learning technology specified reusability and interoperability in Web-based courseware. However, great interactivity is not yet considered. Each interactive learning object represents an autonomous hypermedia entity, laborious to create, impossible to interlink and to adapt in a graduated manner, and hard to specify. Dynamic attributes, the look and feel, and functionality are predefined. This work designs and realizes learning technology for Web-based courseware with special regard to highly interactive learning objects. The innovative aspect initially lies in the multi-level, component-based technology providing a graduated structuring. Components range from complex learning objects to toolkits to primitive components and scripts. Secondly, the proposed methodologies extend community support in Web-based courseware – collaboration and personalization – to the software layer. Components become linkable hypermedia objects and part of the courseware repository, rated, annotated, and modified by all community members. In addition to a detailed description of technology and design patterns for interactive learning objects and matching Web-based courseware, the thesis clarifies the denotation of interactivity in educational software formulating combined levels of technological and symbolical interactivity, and deduces a visual scripting metaphor for transporting functionality. Further, it reviews the evolution of hypermedia and educational software to extract substantial techniques for interactive Web-based courseware. The proposed framework supports multilingual, alternative content, provides link consistency and easy maintenance, and includes state-driven online wizards also for interactive content. The impact of great interactivity in educational software is illustrated with courseware in the Computer Graphics domain

A basic web-based distance education model

Thesis (Master)--Izmir Institute of Technology, Computer Engineering, Izmir, 2005Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 147)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxv, 201 leavesDuring the recent years, the rapid growth of the Web and multimedia technologies urged a shift of Computer-Based Educational Technology towards the Web. In the leading universities of the developed countries, studies on Web-Based Education have started and in an increasing manner are going strong. In the last few years, the leading universities of Turkey are also greatly interested in Web-Based Education and have started their re-structuring accordingly.The goal of this study is to design a basic model to be utilized by a university aiming to offer web-based distance education. In achieving this; by the use of system approach, a model comprising of three subsystems, namely system analysis, system design and evaluation&control, working in coordination with each other, has been tried to be proposed. There may be only one missing point of this study, that is; since preparing a lesson or program according to this model was not foreseen in this thesis, the effectiveness evaluations suggested in the evaluation&control subsystem could not be realized. It is recommended to realize such an evaluation in a further study to make it possible to reveal the effectiveness of web-based education by preparing a lesson or program according to this model.On the other hand, a survey has been conducted in Turkey in some of the universities either offering web-based education or are interested in studies in this field.The aim of this survey is to analyze from system design point of view the studies carried out in our universities on this matter and to get a picture of the existing situation.The directed questions aiming this were prepared by taking into consideration of the three stages of system design subsystem, i.e. administrative design, educational design, and technological design. It is intended for the result of this survey to shed light to the new-coming institutions in this field. As a matter of fact, each stage of this subsystem is a survey item itself and should be researched one by one in other studies.Furthermore, for individuals interested in distance education and web-based distance education and for people newly involved in this matter, this thesis is intended to be a reference material and to serve this purpose the sections are prepared containing the basic information accordingly. Nevertheless, since most of the information regarding system design are prepared without taking into consideration the disabled people, the relevant information are not complete. In another study, the offering of the web-based education to the disabled people, especially for deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired, and blind students, has to be investigated.Finally, in this thesis the proposed model for the Web-Based Distance Education, as being a basic and conceptual model, has a flexible structure; i.e., suitable for all the institutions and establishments intending to offer the web-based education.What is important here, is to exploit the potential sources within the institution that will display the required systematic approach

Introducción al hipertexto como herramienta general de información. Concepto, sistemas y problemática

The historical roots of hypertext and the aims of its pioneers, Nelson and Engelbart, are described and a definition is given of the concept and its relation to the object-oriented programming in the use of computers . Most important actual hypert.ext systems are described, according to application areas, followed a consideration of some problema met in the implementation of hypertext systems and the current research issues. Finally, an interpretation of hypertext a general information too! able to , overriding limitations of traditional use of computers, give birth to a new way of relating information and knowledge, with probably decisive consequences to the documentation work, is given.Se describen los orígenes históricos del hipertexto, los objetivos que perseguían sus iniciadores , Nelson y Engelbart, y se da una definición general del concepto de hipertexto, y su relación con la programación orientada al objeto, como uno de sus fundamentos informáticos. A continuación se describen los sistemas de hipertexto más significativos agrupados por áreas de aplicación . Finalmente, después de dejar constancia de los problemas encontrados en la aplicación del hipertexto, así como las líneas de investigación en curso, se aporta una interpretación del hipertexto como herramienta de información de validez general que , superando las limitaciones de la informática tradicional, inaugura un nuevo modo de relacionar la información y el conocimiento, de consecuencias probablemente decisivas para el trabajo de la documentación

The Information and Communication Revolution: Impact on Society

The simple idea of connecting people through a variety of open platforms and freely editable is significantly destabilizing the common perception of concepts , such as identity , knowledge and research information. Access to the convergence between telecommunications ,computer and traditional media is speeding up the cycle of news , interactivity and availability of multimedia content on the same customization of information .The new media make possible an immediate return issue sent by the receiver on the same transmission channel used by the issuer. In this new dimension , the text is not only necessarily written or sound or linked to images. Which have initiated a profound transformation. The objective of this paper is to give a point of view about the impact of information and communication technologies on the everyday life. For this paper was used mixed method approach and different number of perspectives from general to comparative one in order to enhance the research . DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5s1p28