From Latent Semantics to Spatial Hypertext-An Integrated Approach

  • Mary Czerwinski

Hypertext '98, The Proceedings of the 9th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia |

Published by Association for Computing Machinery, Inc.

In this paper, we describe an integrated approach to the development of virtual reality-enabled spatial hypertext. This approach integrates several fundamentally related tasks into a cohesive and automated process, including latent semantic indexing, transformation between semantic and spatial models, and virtual reality modelling. The design of the visual user interface draws upon the theory of cognitive map. Initial empirical evidence suggests that the spatial metaphor is intuitive and particularly useful when an inherent organisation structure for the data is implicit, or a highly flexible and extensible virtual environment is required. Search patterns associated with the spatial hypertext found in our recent spatial ability study are also discussed with reference to the spatial design.