METHODOLOGIES FOR DESIGNING AND DEVELOPING HYPERMEDIA APPLICATIONS

Hypermedia design, as any other design activity, may be observed according to two points of view: methods which suggest milestones to guide the designer's work and process which concerns the actual detailed behavior of the designer at work. Cognitive studies assess that mental processes involved in any design process show widely shared human characteristics regardless to the used design method. Thereby, they provide general keys to help designers. Thus, a hypertext design environment should equally consider the two dimensions of a hypertext design activity, in particular it should support the natural design process specificities, mainly the incremental and opportunist aspects. The paper focuses on the hypertext design as a computer supported human activity. It examines what is general both in the design methods and in the design process of hypertexts in order to determine which general features are helpful to designers. This analysis has raised from the observation of the behavior of MacWeb users during design tasks. It is related to sound and well known results in cognitive science. The paper also describes how the proposed features are implemented in the MacWeb system.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Website Architecture, Information Flows and Cognitive Models

This paper explores the relation between new digital genres configuration and their users’ previous knowledge patterns from an interlinguistic perspective. More precisely, first we analyse two models that underlie the formal architecture of websites. For that purpose we introduce diverse pieces of software that allow for visualization of website organization in terms of nodes and links. Then, we show the most entrenched metaphoric models that provide cognitive tools for users to understand website configuration and usage, in an English speaking culture. Finally, we discuss to what extent these models can be transferred and learned by users from other cultures, particularly in Spanish speaking communitie

The effect of leads on cognitive load and learning in a conceptually rich hypertext environment

The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether leads affect cognitive load and learning from conceptually rich hypertext. Measures of cognitive load included self-report of mental effort, reading time, and event-related desynchronization percentage of alpha, beta, and theta brain wave rhythms. Conceptual and structural knowledge tests, as well as a recall measure were used to determine learning performance. Measures of learners\u27 reading ability, prior knowledge, and metacognitive awareness were employed to establish the effect of individual differences on cognitive load and learning from traditional and lead-augmented hypertext. Results demonstrated that while leads appeared to reduce brain wave activity associated with split attention, processing of redundant information contained in hypertext nodes may have increased extraneous cognitive load, and decreased germane load that is required for learning to take place. Whereas the benefits of leads relative to cognitive load and learning may have been mediated by the redundancy effect, learners with better developed metacognitive skills tended to use leads as a tool to review information in the linked nodes while revisiting content in the primary text passage. Limitations of the currently available cognitive load measures are discussed as applied to direct assessment of this theoretical construct

Mixed Methodology Research Design in Educational Technology

In recent times many educational researchers have moved away from the traditional purist approach of strictly adopting either a qualitative or quantitative approach to conducting research. Instead they have attempted an eclectic mix of both methods in their research inquiry, combining aspects of both the traditions at various stages of their experimental study such as in the formulation of research questions/hypotheses, design of research methods, analysis of data, and discussion of research findings. Such integration harnesses the strengths of both traditions and underpins a methodologically sound research design. In this article the author recounts details of how a case study anchored to principles of mixed methodology research design was carried out.Ces derniers temps, plusieurs chercheurs en éducation se sont éloignés de la tradition puriste selon laquelle l’on adopte formellement une approche qualitative ou quantitative à la recherche. Ceux-ci optent plutôt pour un mélange éclectique des deux méthodes qui combine des aspects des deux traditions à diverses étapes de leur étude expérimentale, comme lors de la formulation de leurs questions ou leurs hypothèses de recherche, la conception de leurs méthodes de recherche, l’analyse des données et la discussion des résultats de recherche. Une telle intégration s’appuie sur la force des deux traditions et sous-tend une conception de recherche qui est solidement établie sur le plan de la méthodologie. Dans cet article, l’auteur explique le déroulement d’une étude de cas reposant sur des principes d’une méthodologie de recherche mixte

Anaphora Resolution and Text Retrieval

Empirical approaches based on qualitative or quantitative methods of corpus linguistics have become a central paradigm within linguistics. The series takes account of this fact and provides a platform for approaches within synchronous linguistics as well as interdisciplinary works with a linguistic focus which devise new ways of working empirically and develop new data-based methods and theoretical models for empirical linguistic analyses