The Hyperlink Interface - Design of Link Markers in Web and Hypertext
Systems
Harald Weinreich and Hartmut Obendorf [Half Day]
Creating Dynamic Video Hypertexts
Susan Jacobson
sjacobson@mmm.edu
Assistant Professor - Digital Media
Marymount Manhattan College
221 East 71 Street
New York, NY 1
http://countlessstories.com
Benefits
Hypertextual audio/video storytelling has been a long-promised but rarely
implemented feature of the Web and other hypertext systems. Recent
developments in real-time streaming and database technologies now make it
possible for most artists and Web developers to explore the expressive
potential of this storytelling technique.
This half-day course covers how to combine real-time RTSP audio/video
streaming with database technologies to create dynamic documentaries and
other presentations that assemble themselves based on input from the
audience. Participants will learn how to prepare audio and video files for
RTSP streaming; how to work with a streaming server; how to set up a
database to describe audio and video content; what to consider when
developing an interface for dynamic stories; and programming structures for
bringing everything together. This course uses examples based on Apple's
QuickTime technology and Macromedia Director, but other streaming and
authoring platforms could be used to accomplish the same goals.
Audience
This tutorial is designed for producers and artists who work with digital
media and hypertext. Audience members should have basic skills in Web
production and a basic understanding of video production. This course uses
examples based on Apple's QuickTime technology and Macromedia Director, but
other streaming, authoring and database platforms could be used to
accomplish the same goal.
Format
This course will be organized as a Half-Day Tutorial. It will be mostly
lecture-and-demonstration format, but we may work with video clips collected
during the conference, if it is possible to do so, and the attendees will
have input on the selection and organization of the video hypertext clips.
The components of the course are as follows:
- Introduction - What Is Streaming Hypertext?
- How to prepare audio/visual files for RTSP streaming
- How to work with a streaming server
- How to set up a database to describe audio and video content
- What to consider when developing an interface for dynamic stories
- Sample programming structures
Origins
This tutorial has not been presented at previous Hypertext conferences. I
have presented parts of this tutorial to my classes at Marymount Manhattan
College in New York City and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
Instructor
Susan Jacobson has a long history of working with streaming media and video
conferencing technologies. She is currently an Assistant Professor of
Digital Media at Marymount Manhattan College, where she directs the Digital
Media Program and runs the Digital Media Lab. She received funding to
develop the WMMC Digital Broadcasting Studio at Marymount, which supports
both the Internet-based student radio station and streaming media classes.
She is currently helping the University of the Arts set up a Streaming Media
initiative in Philadelphia. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the
World Wide Web Artists Consortium, the oldest Internet industry organization
in New York City, where she leads the Digital Broadcasting SIG. She is the
producer of Countless Stories, a a dynamic documentary engine that combines
RTSP video streaming with database technologies to create stories that
assemble themselves based on input from the audience, which she developed as
part of her dissertation project at New York University.
Bringing XML Hyperdocuments to Life with XSLT and SVG
Prof. Peter Murray-Rust
Unilever Centre for Molecular Informatics
Cambridge Chemistry Department
Email:pm286@cam.ac.uk
http://wwmm.ch.cam.ac.uk/
Benefits
XSLT is a leading technology for adding value to XML documents, and is an
essential tool for anyone needing to process marked-up, semistructured
information. It can generate any other markup language such as XHTML,
Xlink, and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG).
The tutorial will show how complex documents (including datatyped material
such as numeric quantities) can be processed by XSLT to give a range of
hypermedia.
Audience
Audience. Anyone interested in content in XML, and adding value to
(semi-)structured documents. Examples might be website managers, technical
writers, publishers, librarians. Emphasis on getting started.
Experience with XML syntax will be valuable (or a good knowledge of HTML).
Participants will use openSource tools and should have a reasonable sense
of adventure. Programming experience is not required.
Format
Full-day. At least 50% hands-on software tools
Origins
The XSLT tutorial is regularly presented on a commercial basis (2-day) and
I have presented at many one-off conferences (SGML/XML/GCA, etc.)
Instructor
Peter Murray-Rust is at the new Unilever Centre for Molecular Informatics
in Cambridge University. He is interested in informatics in STM fields and
has developed systems in healthcare (especially drug regulation) and
Chemistry. He was one of the original working group on XML and with Henry
Rzepa ran the XML-DEV mailing list where many of the current ideas in XML
took shape. He has developed markup languages to support STM and more
particularly Chemical Markup Language for chemistry. He has given many
lectures, demonstrations and tutorials on XML (including commercial
training on- and off-site). In the Unilever Centre he develops 2-day
workshops for industrial and academic scientists in molecular informatics
including programming languages and XML.
An Introduction to the Semantic Web: Concepts, Technologies and Tools
Nick Gibbins
IAM (Intelligence, Agents, Multimedia)
Electronics and Computer Science
University of Southampton
nmg@ecs.soton.ac.uk
Benefits
Participants in this tutorial should expect to learn about the
following topics:
- Basic Concepts and Background of the Semantic Web
- - brief history of knowledge-based systems and knowledge
representation
- - the Semantic Web vs. hypertext: two models of associative knowledge
- - machine-readable vs. machine-understandable information
- - cataloguing, classification and metadata
- Structuring Knowledge
- - the importance of shared vocabularies and ontologies
- - common vocabularies in use on the Semantic Web
- Semantic Web Technologies
- - Resource Description Framework (RDF)
- - RDF Schema
- - the OWL Web Ontology Language
- - integration with the Web technical architecture
- Semantic Web Development
- - tool support for RDF/RDFS/OWL
- - Semantic Web-enabled software
- - Semantic Web projects and initiatives
- - future directions of the Semantic Web
Audience
This tutorial is aimed at those who wish to gain a general
understanding of the scope of the Semantic Web and also some
in-depth knowledge of its underlying technologies
No prior knowledge of the Semantic Web or of knowledge based systems
is assumed. Some familiarity with the basic Web architecture (HTTP,
URIs, etc) and XML would be advantageous.
Format
This tutorial is planned as a full day event, with the morning
session containing an overview of the concepts behind the Semantic
Web, a survey of the uses to which Semantic Web technologies are
being put and some coverage of the future directions in which
Semantic Web development is likely to lead.
The afternoon session will be more technically-oriented, and will
consist of an introduction to common Semantic Web languages (RDF,
RDF Schema and OWL) and tool support for Semantic Web application
development.
Origins
This tutorial has not been previously presented as a whole, although
parts have been presented in seminars and lectures at the University
of Southampton.
Instructor
Dr. Gibbins is a researcher in the Advanced Knowledge Technologies
project at the University of Southampton, and a member of the World
Wide Web Consortium's Web Ontology Language (Webont) Working Group.
Usability of e-Learning Websites in Distance Education
Benefits
The tutorial will enable you to gain insight into the perspectives of instructors and
learners in web-based distance education, including international students. Using
the web to its full pedagogical potential requires a high level of self-study ability on
the part of students. "Learning-to-learn" can be broken down into component skills,
such as becoming more reflective, becoming a better time manager, developing
good study habits, finding and applying relevant examples, and self-evaluation.
Web-based learning presents specific challenges in each of these skill areas, and
support may be needed. Websites can provide development of learning skills, and
can give critical course information, study material and assignments in ways that
help students become self-reliant. Multimedia and web resources enable students
to make their own links and follow their own lines of investigation; however to
ensure that they are fully supported, enhanced features or combinations of media
are needed.
An e-learning website can have many desirable features but it is still necessary to
question whether it is usable. Notions of "usability" and "pedagogical usability" will be
examined. Usability tests can reveal more than just the strengths and weaknesses
of websites - they can shed light on assumptions and conceptions of users. A set of
"challenges" is proposed that can be applied to a website during its development, to
probe its pedagogical features. Subsequent evaluation can include consideration of
the design of learning activities, and checking whether learning objectives have
been met.
Audience
Designers and developers of educational websites and web-based learning
materials; website editors and evaluators. The tutorial does not assume any
knowledge of distance learning. It will be relevant to those who are new to
developing web-based distance education, and anyone who has not had sufficient
opportunity to reflect on pedagogical features.
Format
Half day. There will be a mix of presentation (perspectives of instructors and
learners, learning to learn, website examples), discussion (usability test results),
and a hands-on group exercise (applying "challenges" to a selected website).
Origins
The tutorial draws on extensive experience of design and evaluation of e-learning at
the UK Open University. The website "challenges" are the outcome of a project that
sought to bring together top recommendations from the research literature and the
expertise of usability practitioners across the university campus.
Instructor
Dr Agnes Kukulska-Hulme is a Senior Lecturer in the UK Open University's Institute
of Educational Technology. She chairs the web-delivered global Masters course,
"Applications of Information Technology in Open and Distance Education", and co-
directs the university's course website usability project (2001-3). She has presented
numerous tutorials and workshops, e.g. at the WinWriters Annual Conference in
Santa Clara and the European Online Help Conference in Copenhagen.
Is it literature? Is it art? How artists use
hypertext, hypermedia, and associative navigation to create new avenues for
expression
Helen Whitehead
Web Editor
trAce Online Writing Centre
http://trace.ntu.ac.uk
Benefits
The course will examine literary uses of non-linear structures by exploring
electronic works. These works employ hypertext linking, narrative, game
theory, and other techniques discussed in hypertext conferences and forums
to form expressions and communicate in new ways.
Participants will:
- Gain an understanding in the techniques used to create web-based narratives
- Explore the implications of hypertext and hypermedia for artistic endeavors
- Explore the implications of current works for new avenues of research in
hypertext and hypermedia
- Broaden the understanding of new media as an artistic/literary genre
Audience
This course is designed for creators of artistic and literary hypermedia as
well as hypertext and hypermedia researchers and programmers, and those who
wish to read and enjoy new media.
Format
A half-day day course, in a computer lab with full internet access.
- Explore several hypertext works (e.g, the Alt-X/trace and Electronic
Literature Organisation prizewinners, web warp & weft) for reader, writer,
critical, and researcher strategies and questions.
- Discuss implications of these works for navigation and programming.
- Look at a variety of forms that literary texts can take.
- Study the conjunction of word, image, narrative structure, programming, and
media tools as a means of storytelling.
- Discuss the implications for analysing, archiving, and creating with various
hypertext/hypermedia tools.
Origins
The writers workshops have been an integral part of the HT conferences
since 1996. Many conferences have had joint discussions with new media
artists and writers and hypertext/hypermedia programmers and researchers,
which provide fruitful avenues for further inquiries. This tutorial extends
the discussion and opportunities to look at literary hypermedia.
Instructor
The instructor will be from the trace Online Writing Centre: to be advised.
The Hyperlink Interface - Design of Link Markers in Web and
Hypertext Systems
Benefits
Participants will gain an understanding of the importance of hyperlink
marker design and learn about the consequences of implicit design decisions
of technology in use today -- primarily in the World Wide Web.
A historical tour of hypermedia systems will introduce Hyperlink markers as
the primary interface of hypermedia systems and show a variety of different
visualization and interaction styles. Result of empirical studies on reading
behavior will accompany the qualitative experiences with hypermedia systems.
Differences between hypermedia systems research and Web practice will be
studied and implications be drawn for both. Participants will learn how
link taxonomies help categorize links; it will be discussed whether link
types are useful for the hypermedia reader or author.
Then, the focus is put on navigational questions assuming a user's
perspective. Currently existing implicit link types in the Web will be
demonstrated using a research prototype [2]. Different visualizations and
interaction forms (links-on-demand) can be experienced by the participants.
A discussion ends the tutorial and design implications will be rounded up.
After a short technical introduction to HTML linking standards and
Cascading style sheets, there will be room for the application of what
was learned in a design session.
Audience
(a) Web authors
(b) Hypermedia system authors
Format
Half-day tutorial (3h)
60% lecture
25% discussion
15% hands-on experience
Origins
This tutorial is grounded in hypermedia research and web design
practice. It has not been presented in public, parts of the presented
material come from talks in academia.
[1] Weinreich, H. and Obendorf, H.: The look of the link. In Proceedings of
the ACM Hypertext 2001 Conference, Aarhus, Denmark.
[2] Weinreich, H., Obendorf, H. and Lamersdorf, W.: Konzepte und
Auswirkungen
erweiterter Typinformationen zu Objekten und Links im World Wide Web. In
submission to Mensch und Computer 2003.
[3] Obendorf, H. and Weinreich, H.: Comparing Link Marker Visualization
Techniques - Changes in Reading Behavior. To appear in Proceedings of
the World Wide Web Conference 2003, Budapest, Hungary.
Instructors
Harald Weinreich is PhD student at the University of Hamburg. His research
focus is on hypertext, usability and the Web. He gave several courses on
Web technologies and Web usability.
Hartmut Obendorf is a PhD student at the University of Hamburg where
he studies the interaction of hypertext and usability research. He has
taught courses on programming and hypermedia for both undergraduate and
graduate students.
Home
Tutorials
