Automatic Extraction of Hypermedia Bundles from the Digital Library

This paper describes experiments to extract a set of multimedia documents from a digital library in response to a user query, and then to present these documents as a hypermedia application called a "bundle". A visual interface to a query engine with multiple query tools, using successive refinements is described. The principle of automatic generation of hypertexts using the structure inherent in the library catalogue is explained. Issues arising from these experiments include the content of digital library catalogues and the ownership and regulation of these catalogue entries. The paper explores these issues, and examines the possibility of using the resulting system as a workbench for investigating agent technology.