Applying patterns to hypermedia instructional design (APHID)

This research addresses the issue of automatically generating instructional hypermedia documents (in the form of web sites). Our hypothesis is that, for certain types of hypermedia, an automated approach can produce satisfactory hypermedia applications more efficiently than humans are able to create them. We propose a method (APHID) that guides a hypermedia creator through the design process and partially automates the creation of hypermedia applications. Our method uses concept maps and instructional design patterns, as well as the more common domain and presentation models, to support partial automation for creating instructional hypermedia. Most hypermedia application developers follow basic graphical design principles, but few commonly accepted principles exist for the structuring of hypermedia applications. The design of instructional hypermedia imposes the additional requirement that the designer be expert both in hypermedia design and in instructional design. APHID supports designers through the use of patterns to describe and clarify design concepts for both instructional design and interface design. This thesis describes the design and development of the APHID approach and a prototype software tool that supports the development of instructional hypermedia using the APHID approach. The thesis also presents a study in which web sites created with APHID are compared (by an independent evaluator) to web sites created by instructional technologists. The study shows that good instructional web sites can be generated semi-automatically with less expenditure of time on the part of the instructional designer

Processing Structured Hypermedia : A Matter of Style

With the introduction of the World Wide Web in the early nineties, hypermedia has become the uniform interface to the wide variety of information sources available over the Internet. The full potential of the Web, however, can only be realized by building on the strengths of its underlying research fields. This book describes the areas of hypertext, multimedia, electronic publishing and the World Wide Web and points out fundamental similarities and differences in approaches towards the processing of information. It gives an overview of the dominant models and tools developed in these fields and describes the key interrelationships and mutual incompatibilities. In addition to a formal specification of a selection of these models, the book discusses the impact of the models described on the software architectures that have been developed for processing hypermedia documents. Two example hypermedia architectures are described in more detail: the DejaVu object-oriented hypermedia framework, developed at the VU, and CWI's Berlage environment for time-based hypermedia document transformations