Using structured types to incorporate knowledge in hypertext

It has been shown that the famous problem of user disorientation in hypertext is not due to the concept of hypertext itself but rather generally results from the lack of a conceptual model for hypertext application. Unfortunately, in most hypertext systems, the weakness of structure specification mechanisms discourages the development and use of such a model since it is difficult to reinforce hypertext structure and to really incorporate knowledge. A lot of works provide intelligent mechanisms to help navigation but either they use external knowledge or automatically synthesize links from information included in nodes which thereby have no sufficient conceptual value. The present paper focuses on an object-oriented hypertext model (implemented in the MacWeb system) using structured types to incorporate knowledge in hypertext. Concepts and their relationships as well as their instances and their own relationships may be represented. Such a model makes the capture of knowledge at source easier thus allowing a more conceptual navigation, Furthermore, active behaviors may be associated, as methods, to types. This provides a powerful mechanism to help develop structured hypertext as well as task centered applications, by taking advantage of knowledge representation.