Browsing by Subject "Hypertext"
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Item A Framework for Re-Purposing Textbooks Using Learning Outcomes/Methodology, Device Characteristics, Representation and User Dimensions(2013-05-01) Ciftci, TolgaAs digital books begin to take center stage in our lives the importance of the old printed book still lingers on. A large number of the books printed on the paper media still have much to offer to readers for various reasons (e.g. less famous authors of prose, old books with interesting and original problems). To help individuals in digitizing and reusing their physical and digital books we decided to build a framework that will help people convert physical and digital books to other formats taking into consideration four dimensions: learning outcomes or methodology, target device characteristics, representation and the user. Our focus is on textbooks in history. Consequently, we do not consider some problems like math formulas. This work has the potential of helping people deal with the huge backlog of physical books that can become invisible as the digital books take off. To show that our platform can help in repurposing books for student study activities, we have developed some transformations. The transformations we have implemented shows that the framework can be used to add study aids to books, optimize books for a target platform (e-reader device and application combination), and supplement available features of a target platform and maintain consistency across various audio/visual devices and e-book formats. One of the important steps in the thesis was determining the study activities that we would support as examples in our implementation. We have chosen to implement support for the survey, question, read and review activities of the SQ3R reading technique. We have also implemented support for additional activities like search. The chosen activities and the support implemented for these activities are examples and are not meant to be complete. Another important decision point was to decide which target platforms (e-reader device and application combination) we need to support. We decided to choose a few representatives and leave the rest as future work. The target devices were selected so as to have a variety of device capabilities like screen size, display technology (e.g. e-ink, VGA), and user interaction styles (e.g. touch-based, button based) combined with application capabilities (e.g. audio only, visual only, audio visual, grayscale, and color). The devices selected were: iPad, iPod, iPhone, Kindle 3rd generation, Kindle Fire, Sony PRS and a laptop. The e-reader applications are the ones that are available for these devices.Item Factography(Texas Tech University, 2008-05) Bailey, Sara Sloan; Jones, Stephen G.; Covington, Dennis; Purinton, Marjean D.Factography is a hypertext novel that weaves together a series of stories, which can be read either in a linear fashion or through a series of links. The links work in the same way as the mind, giving the novel a life all its own by creating a network of threads that connect together ideas, characters, place, and plot. In many ways, it give readers control of the text, allowing their minds to wander along the work in a way it might only after reading a linear novel for the second time. In other words, while the structure provides the reader the freedom to navigate freely through the text, it also helps as a textual guide, making suggestions of what one might take away from what might otherwise seem an unrelated collection.Item Grouping annotating and filtering history information in VKB(Texas A&M University, 2004-09-30) Akkapeddi, Raghu C.History mechanisms available in hypertext systems allow users access to past interactions with the system and help users incorporate those interactions into the current context. The history information can be useful to both the system and the user. The Visual Knowledge Builder (VKB) creates spatial hypertexts - visual workspaces for collecting, organizing, and sharing. It is based on prior work on VIKI. VKB records all edit events and presents them in the form of a "navigable history" as end-users work within an information workspace. My thesis explores attaching user interpretations of history via the grouping and annotation of edit events. Annotations can take the form of a plain text statement or one or more attribute/value pairs attached to individual events or group of events in the list. Moreover, I explore the value of history event filtering, limiting the edits and groups presented to those that match user descriptions. My contribution in this thesis is the addition of mechanisms whereby users can cope with larger history records in VKB via the process of grouping, annotating and filtering history information.Item Multi-model adaptive spatial hypertext(Texas A&M University, 2005-02-17) Francisco-Revilla, LuisInformation delivery on the Web often relies on general purpose Web pages that require the reader to adapt to them. This limitation is addressed by approaches such as spatial hypermedia and adaptive hypermedia. Spatial hypermedia augments the representation power of hypermedia and adaptive hypermedia explores the automatic modification of the presentation according to user needs. This dissertation merges these two approaches, combining the augmented expressiveness of spatial hypermedia with the flexibility of adaptive hypermedia. This dissertation presents the Multi-model Adaptive Spatial Hypermedia framework (MASH). This framework provides the theoretical grounding for the augmentation of spatial hypermedia with dynamic and adaptive functionality and, based on their functionality, classifies systems as generative, interactive, dynamic or adaptive spatial hypermedia. Regarding adaptive hypermedia, MASH proposes the use of multiple independent models that guide the adaptation of the presentation in response to multiple relevant factors. The framework is composed of four parts: a general system architecture, a definition of the fundamental concepts in spatial hypermedia, an ontological classification of the adaptation strategies, and the philosophy of conflict management that addresses the issue of multiple independent models providing contradicting adaptation suggestions. From a practical perspective, this dissertation produced WARP, the first MASH-based system. WARP?s novel features include spatial transclusion links as an alternative to navigational linking, behaviors supporting dynamic spatial hypermedia, and personal annotations to spatial hypermedia. WARP validates the feasibility of the multi-model adaptive spatial hypermedia and allows the exploration of other approaches such as Web-based spatial hypermedia, distributed spatial hypermedia, and interoperability issues between spatial hypermedia systems. In order to validate the approach, a user study comparing non-adaptive to adaptive spatial hypertext was conducted. The study included novice and advanced users and produced qualitative and quantitative results. Qualitative results revealed the emergence of reading behaviors intrinsic to spatial hypermedia. Users moved and modified the objects in order to compare and group objects and to keep track of what had been read. Quantitative results confirmed the benefits of adaptation and indicated a possible synergy between adaptation and expertise. In addition, the study created the largest spatial hypertext to date in terms of textual content.Item ObjectRhetoric: an object-oriented rhetoric of hypertext for technical communication(Texas Tech University, 2007-12) Jones, Roland AlexanderTechnical communication is becoming increasingly focused on the efficient production of documentation, largely commoditizing a profession based, at least in part, on the art of rhetoric. As technical communicators embrace single sourcing, the practice of writing content for one context and reusing it in others, the impetus is on technological solutions that enable more output with less effort. This dissertation will describe a new rhetoric to help technical communicators in dealing with the complexities of composing within a hypertextual and single-source based environment while employing the traditional skills of the profession. A useful model for technical communicators working with reusable content is that offered by object-orientation, a programming method that likewise focuses on reusable content, specifically program code. Rather than defining a series of algorithms in program code, which results in inefficiencies similar to those of writing and maintaining individual documents, object-orientation segregates code by creating models of interaction among code objects which then govern themselves. Such a process could help create more efficient and sustainable methods of creating documentation if applied to technical communication. Since these objects offer a new approach to authoring, a rhetoric of such objects becomes necessary before they can be implemented for technical communication. Since these objects are connected through complex referential relationships, they are also an advanced form of hypertext. Object-orientation and the hypertext theory of Ted Nelson provide language suitable for defining such a rhetoric. A theory of invention is equivalent to understanding how knowledge is formed, manipulated, and stored within the mind; cognitive theory and the work of Marvin Minsky and Roger Shank help define a suitable metaphor for this rhetoric. Lastly, elements of the process will be shown through the example of real-world activities such as those involved in complex documentation efforts.Item A study of hypernarrative in fiction film : alternative narrative in American film (1989-2012)(2014-05) Cho, Taehyun; Berg, Charles Ramírez, 1947-Although many scholars attempted to define and categorize alternative narratives, a new trend in narrative that has proliferated at the turn of the 21st century, there is no consensus. To understand recent alternative narrative films more comprehensively, another approach using a new perspective may be required. This study used hypertextuality as a new criterion to examine the strategies of alternative narratives, as well as the hypernarrative structure and characteristics in alternative narratives. Using the six types of linkage patterns (linear, hierarchy, hypercube, directed acyclic graph, clumped, and arbitrary links), this study analyzed six recent American fiction films (between 1989 and 2012) that best represent each linkage pattern. Results of the study indicated that alternative narrative films strengthened viewers’ recognition by adopting multiple characters and time, intensified complex plots by combining different plot strategies, and represented the narrative intentions through the linkages of hypernarrative structure. By examining alternative narratives within the framework of hypernarrative, this study contributed to more a comprehensive understanding of alternative narratives.