Hypertext: from Text to Expertext

Abstract

Efforts to exploit technology so as to add extra dimensions to text have occurred throughout history, but the electronic computer has opened new vistas. The modern history of hypertext begins with the text `As We May Think' which describes an analogue computer that allowed individuals to record and follow links among documents. The declining costs of digital computing along with the information explosion necessitate a reassessment of the principles and systems which may be united to serve the information age. In particular, the links within a document, among people, and among documents must come together. The disciplines of human-computer interaction, computer-supported collaborative work, information storage and retrieval, and artificial intelligence should complement one another in the new discipline that studies hypertext.