Is "lost in hyperspace" lost in controversy?

1.0 Introduction Hypertext technology still continues to excite many, ever since it became popular in the late 1980s. Many people then were sceptical that the technology might just be a passing fad. However, there are some who think that the promise behind hypertext is too fundamental to disappear quickly, and there are reasons to believe that hypertext technology promises something special. In hypertext, users not only benefit from the information they read but also from the richness of associations supported by the network of nodes and links. Hypertext has affected us directly, or indirectly in almost every facet of our lives, ranging from scientific work to business and education needs, to our general way of life. Take for example the World Wide Web (WWW) on the Internet. By the end of 1994, it has an estimate of 30 million users (Nielsen, 1995). However, hypertext is not a pancrea to life's problems (Nielsen, 1995). Associated with hypertext are two classes of problems (Conklin, 1987): problems with current implementations, which include delays in the display of referenced materials, deficiencies in browsers, etc.; and secondly, problems that seem endemic to hypertext such as cognitive overload and disorientation. Cognitive overload is the additional effort and concentration necessary to maintain several tasks or trails at one time. Disorientation is the tendency of users to lose their way in non-linear information. This is commonly referred to as the “lost in hyperspace” (LIH) problem.