Hypermedia by coincidence

We introduce an approach to linking hypermedia documents dynamically in a decentralised, peer-to-peer manner using resources that are available by coincidence, without explicit configuration. The particular approach presented utilises an open platform in combination with Distributed Link Service technology enabling dynamic hypertext generation

Marketing education, distance learning and hypermedia: teaching current issues in marketing in a virtual campus

This article reports on a project at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC: The Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona) to develop an innovative package of hypermedia-based learning materials for a new course entitled 'Current Issues in Marketing'. The UOC is a distance university entirely based on a virtual campus. The learning materials project was undertaken in order to benefit from the advantages which new communication technologies offer to the teaching of marketing in distance education. The article reviews the main issues involved in incorporating new technologies in learning materials, the development of the learning materials, and their functioning within the hypermedia based virtual campus of the UOC. An empirical study is then carried out in order to evaluate the attitudes of students to the project. Finally, suggestions for improving similar projects in the future are put forward.Aquest article informa sobre un projecte de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya per a desenvolupar un paquet innovador de materials didàctics hipermèdia basat en un nou curs titulat "Qüestions Actuals de Màrqueting". La UOC és una universitat a distància es basa íntegrament en un campus virtual. El projecte es va dur a terme els materials d'aprenentatge per tal de beneficiar-se dels avantatges que ofereixen les noves tecnologies de comunicació a l'ensenyament del màrqueting en l'educació a distància. L'article repassa els principals temes implicats en la incorporació de noves tecnologies en materials d'aprenentatge, el desenvolupament dels materials d'aprenentatge, i el seu funcionament dins del hipermèdia basat en el campus virtual de la UOC. Després s'ha portat a terme un estudi empíric per a avaluar les actituds dels estudiants del projecte. Finalment, es presenten suggeriments per a la millora de projectes similars en el futur.Este artículo informa sobre un proyecto de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya para desarrollar un paquete innovador de materiales didácticos hipermedia basado en un nuevo curso titulado "Cuestiones Actuales de Marketing". La UOC es una universidad a distancia se basa íntegramente en un campus virtual. El proyecto de materiales didácticos se llevó a cabo con el fin de beneficiarse de las ventajas que ofrecen las nuevas tecnologías de la comunicación para la enseñanza del marketing en la educación a distancia. El artículo repasa los principales temas implicados en la incorporación de nuevas tecnologías en materiales docentes, el desarrollo de los materiales didácticos, y su funcionamiento dentro del hipermedia basado en el campus virtual de la UOC. Entonces se ha llevado a cabo un estudio empírico para evaluar las actitudes de los estudiantes al proyecto. Por último, se presentan sugerencias para la mejora de proyectos similares en el futuro

Seven ways to make a hypertext project fail

Hypertext is an exciting concept, but designing and developing hypertext applications of practical scale is hard. To make a project feasible and successful 'hypertext engineers' must overcome the following problems: (1) developing realistic expectations in the face of hypertext hype; (2) assembling a multidisciplinary project team; (3) establishing and following design guidelines; (4) dealing with installed base constraints; (5) obtaining usable source files; (6) finding appropriate software technology and methods; and (7) overcoming legal uncertainties about intellectual property concerns

RFCs, MOOs, LMSs: Assorted Educational Devices\ud

This paper discusses implicit social consequences of four basic internet protocols. The results are then related to the field of computer-assisted teaching. An educational on-line community is described and compared to the emerging standard of web-based learning management.\u

New Kids on the Net. Deutschsprachige Philosophie elektronisch\ud

Mailing lists tend to be shaped by core groups of dedicated participants, developing their interests and opinions in front of a predominantly receptive audience of subscribers. A new kind of communicative praxis is established on top of some guidelines on how computers should exchange data: participation in quasi-instantaneous, globally distributed, non-hierarchical discursive interchange. Computer networks, as is well known, are not confined by any historical or geographical borders. As a consequence, the cultural impact of the technical devices seems to affect arbitrary collections of users availing themselves of the necessary equipment and know-how. One of the most dazzling experiences of communication on the net, it has correctly been pointed\ud out, is its global egalitarianism. While it is true that large parts of the planet are still excluded and the predominance of the English language imposes important\ud constraints on the participants, it is difficult to avoid an initial euphoria, a cosmopolitan state of mind, as one becomes familiar with a machinery that can support spatially unlimited cooperation between equals with a minimum of\ud administrative overhead

Lessons learned in the development of the STOL intelligent tutoring system

Lessons learned during the development of the NASA Systems Test and Operations Language (STOL) Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS), being developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center are presented. The purpose of the intelligent tutor is to train STOL users by adapting tutoring based on inferred student strengths and weaknesses. This system has been under development for over one year and numerous lessons learned have emerged. These observations are presented in three sections, as follows. The first section addresses the methodology employed in the development of the STOL ITS and briefly presents the ITS architecture. The second presents lessons learned, in the areas of: intelligent tutor development; documentation and reporting; cost and schedule control; and tools and shells effectiveness. The third section presents recommendations which may be considered by other ITS developers, addressing: access, use and selection of subject matter experts; steps involved in ITS development; use of ITS interface design prototypes as part of knowledge engineering; and tools and shells effectiveness

Bridging the Semantic Gap in Multimedia Information Retrieval: Top-down and Bottom-up approaches

Semantic representation of multimedia information is vital for enabling the kind of multimedia search capabilities that professional searchers require. Manual annotation is often not possible because of the shear scale of the multimedia information that needs indexing. This paper explores the ways in which we are using both top-down, ontologically driven approaches and bottom-up, automatic-annotation approaches to provide retrieval facilities to users. We also discuss many of the current techniques that we are investigating to combine these top-down and bottom-up approaches

'Girlfriends and Strawberry Jam’: Tagging Memories, Experiences, and Events for Future Retrieval

In this short paper we have some preliminary thoughts about tagging everyday life events in order to allow future retrieval of events or experiences related to events. Elaboration of these thoughts will be done in the context of the recently started Network of Excellence PetaMedia (Peer-to-Peer Tagged Media) and the Network of Excellence SSPNet (Social Signal Processing), to start in 2009, both funded by the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme. Descriptions of these networks will be given later in this paper