Reading in Web-based hypertexts: cognitive processes strategies and reading goals

Hypertext is a multi-linear electronic, textual and interactive environment to present information. The objective of such an environment is that readers may browse through linked, cross-referenced, annotated texts in a multi-sequential manner, and thus, it is believed, to improve the learning. However, early and current research findings have revealed some mixed results concerning the alleged advantage of hypertext on learning over paper-based documents. Researchers have identified the lack of research about the cognitive processes and the strategies that readers use during reading as one of the main factors for such results. As a result, there is a need and scope for further research in modelling the cognitive processes involved in reading comprehension and the reading strategies in a hypertext environment. This research addresses some of the gaps in the field by proposing a model that represents the sequence of events that take place during reading in a Web-based hypertext environment. Also, emphasis is placed on the strategies that readers use during hypertext reading and on the potential effect of different reading goals on reading comprehension. The evaluation of the model and the other hypotheses is conducted in two experiments using qualitative and quantitative methods. The first experiment employs the think aloud method. Forty two subjects participated. The results demonstrated that the proposed model precisely describes the sequence of events that take place during hypertext reading. They did not reveal any significant difference between different reading goals and understanding. They revealed four reading strategies: serial, serial overview, mixed, and mixed overview, and they identified three factors that influence the selection of hyperlinks: coherence, link location, and personal interest. The second experiment is an independent samples design experiment with ninety subjects. The results confirmed those found in the first experiment. The current study makes a contribution in the field of hypertext reading by proposing and evaluating a procedural model and by making this model graphic. By doing so it addresses some of the voids in the field, expands our understanding of the reading processes and the reading strategies, and provides practical guideliness which are enhanced to promote design supporting effective learning processes

Facilitating Reading through a Theme-Driven Approach

Readers often encounter the need to explore a document only for a specific point of interest. We call the phenomena of approaching a narrative not for its entirety, but for a thread of a particular topic, thematic reading. Present reading tools and information retrieval techniques provide only limited assistance to readers in such a situation. Our research centers on this phenomenon. We conducted investigations on both human behavior and machine automation, with a goal of better meeting the requirements of thematic reading. To observe readers? behavior and understand their expectations, we implemented a reader?s interface with designs targeting the predicted needs of thematic readers. We conducted user studies using both the system and Microsoft Word. We proved that thematic reading is capable of achieving the goal of understanding a specific topic, at least to a degree that succeeds in topic-wise tasks. We also reached guidelines for designing future reading platforms in major aspects such as view, navigation, and contextual awareness. As for machine automation, we investigated the potential to automatically locate thematically relevant excerpts. This investigation was inspired by the editorial compilation of a textbook index. To increase the search performance, we proposed a two-step methodology which first expands the query with expansion and then filters the intermediate results by checking the term-occurrence proximity. For query expansion, we compared the query expansion with WordNet, morphological inflections, and both processes together. Our results show that in the context of our study, WordNet made almost no contribution to the enhancement of recall, while expansion with the inflectional variants turned out to be a successful and essential scheme. For the refinement section, the results show that the proximity check on the alternative phrases formed after inflectional expansion can effectively increase the precision of the previously acquired return results. We further tested a different scheme ? using sliding window ? of defining target and verification units in the methodology. Our findings show that the structural delimitations (sentences and chapters) outperformed sliding windows. The first scheme was able to achieve consistently desirable results, while the results from the second were inconclusive

Reading in Web-based hypertexts : cognitive processes strategies and reading goals

Hypertext is a multi-linear electronic, textual and interactive environment to present information. The objective of such an environment is that readers may browse through linked, cross-referenced, annotated texts in a multi-sequential manner, and thus, it is believed, to improve the learning. However, early and current research findings have revealed some mixed results concerning the alleged advantage of hypertext on learning over paper-based documents. Researchers have identified the lack of research about the cognitive processes and the strategies that readers use during reading as one of the main factors for such results. As a result, there is a need and scope for further research in modelling the cognitive processes involved in reading comprehension and the reading strategies in a hypertext environment. This research addresses some of the gaps in the field by proposing a model that represents the sequence of events that take place during reading in a Web-based hypertext environment. Also, emphasis is placed on the strategies that readers use during hypertext reading and on the potential effect of different reading goals on reading comprehension. The evaluation of the model and the other hypotheses is conducted in two experiments using qualitative and quantitative methods. The first experiment employs the think aloud method. Forty two subjects participated. The results demonstrated that the proposed model precisely describes the sequence of events that take place during hypertext reading. They did not reveal any significant difference between different reading goals and understanding. They revealed four reading strategies: serial, serial overview, mixed, and mixed overview, and they identified three factors that influence the selection of hyperlinks: coherence, link location, and personal interest. The second experiment is an independent samples design experiment with ninety subjects. The results confirmed those found in the first experiment. The current study makes a contribution in the field of hypertext reading by proposing and evaluating a procedural model and by making this model graphic. By doing so it addresses some of the voids in the field, expands our understanding of the reading processes and the reading strategies, and provides practical guideliness which are enhanced to promote design supporting effective learning processes.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Como contar histórias ?: o hipertexto jornalístico na reportagem hipermídia

Compreender como as histórias são contadas nas reportagens hipermídia, a partir da Teoria do Hipertexto, a fim de elaborar elementos que apontem para as especificidades deste gênero no espaço de escrita digital é o objetivo principal desta tese. Para tanto refletimos sobre as características do hipertexto e sugerimos adequações ao campo do jornalismo. Definimos também o termo hipermídia como uma forma de mídia, resultante da remediação de todas as formas de mídia, de linguagem e de modos expressivos midiáticos que a antecederam. Sobre o gênero reportagem, discutimos a reportagem hipermídia e identificamos os recursos que potencializam a contextualização das histórias. A partir dessas discussões teóricas elaboramos nossa matriz metodológica que alia as especificidades do hipertexto jornalístico (a tipologia dos links, a multivocalidade e a estrutura de navegação) e as questões pertinentes às reportagens hipermídia, as quais denominamos de eixos estruturantes (camadas informativas, modalidades comunicativas e variantes contextuais). A análise foi realizada em três reportagens hipermídia: Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek – The New York Times (Estados Unidos), Filhos da Guerra: Quem é o filho que António deixou na guerra – Público (Portugal) e Crise da água: Líquido e Incerto – Folha de S. Paulo (Brasil). Os resultados nos apontam para padrões de recorrência nas reportagens hipermídia que indicam um perfil próprio desse gênero no espaço de escrita digital. Destacamos alguns traços desse perfil: a reportagem hipermídia utiliza links narrativos para complementar, particularizar, ilustrar e detalhar as informações; emprega múltiplas vozes; a participação do leitor é restrita; a estrutura de navegação é diversificada; a estrutura da reportagem conta com duas camadas informativas; as modalidades comunicativas estão integradas entre si; o texto é a peça-chave que conduz a história; a contextualização das histórias ocorre por meio da humanização dos relatos, de bases de dados, de recursos imersivos e das histórias em formato longo.The main goal of this thesis is to understand how stories are being told in hypermedia reporting, considering Hypertext as theoretical framework, in order to elaborate features that indicates the specificities of this genre in digital writing space. For this purpose, we consider hypertext characteristics in order to suggest adjustments to journalism field. We also define hypermedia as a new media format, resulting from the remediation of all types of media, language and expressive mediatic modes that preceeded it. When it comes to reporting as a genre, we discuss the hypermedia reporting and identify the resources that strengthen stories contextualization. From these theoretical discussions, we elaborate our methodological framework that combines the specificities of journalistic hypertext (the typology of links, the multivocality and the navigation structure) and the pertinent issues to hypermedia reports, which we denominate the structuring axes (informative layers, communicative modalities and contextual variants). We select as an analysis sample three hypermedia reports: Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek – The New York Times (United States), Filhos da Guerra: Quem é o filho que António deixou na guerra – Público (Portugal) and Crise da água: Líquido e Incerto – Folha de S. Paulo (Brazil). The study findings lead us to identify a standard in hypermedia reports which compose a profile of its own kind in the digital writing field. We highlighted some features of this profile: the hypermedia report uses narrative links as complement, to particularize, to illustrate and to detail the information; it employs multiple voices; it uses restrict reader participation; it uses a diverse navigation structure; it's structure has two informative layers. We also find that the communicative modalities are integrated with each other; the text is the key element that conducts the story; the story contextualization occurs using resources such as personification, databases, immersive language and long-form stories