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- From: *jamie@csd.uwo.ca* (J. `send no junk mail' Blustein)
- Newsgroups: alt.hypertext,alt.answers,news.answers
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- Subject: [alt.hypertext] Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ list)
- Reply-To: jamie@csd.uwo.ca (J. Blustein)
- Followup-To: alt.hypertext
- Organization: Computer Science Dept., Univ. of Western Ontario, London, Canada
- X-Copyright: copyright (c) Jamie Blustein 1997-2006. All rights reserved. See question 6.1 for details.
- Summary: Answers to questions frequently asked in alt.hypertext and references
- to other online resources about hypertext and hypermedia.
- Keywords: hypertext hypermedia faq
- Originator: faqserv@penguin-lust.mit.edu
- Date: 05 Sep 2007 04:24:42 GMT
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- Last-modified: 21 March 2006 (previous was 07 May 2004)
- URL: http://www.csd.uwo.ca/%7ejamie/hypertext/faq/index.html
- Created: 2 February 1997 by J. Blustein
- Maintainer: J. Blustein <jamie@csd.uwo.ca>
- Copyright: (c) 1997-2006 Jamie Blustein, all rights reserved. See part C of question 6.1 for details.
-
- **************************************
- ********** *********
- * * This FAQ is no longer being * *
- * * actively maintained. If you * *
- * * want to take responsibility * *
- * * for it then send e-mail to * *
- * * the current maintainer. * *
- * * * *
- * ************************************** *
- ************* ************
-
- This document is my personal attempt to answer some of the most
- frequently asked questions in alt.hypertext and provide some necessary
- background. Although I am solely responsible for its content I've tried to
- keep it close to what I think of as the consensus view on all the topics I
- discuss. I welcome all constructive criticism (and compliments). Please
- send them by e-mail to <jamie@csd.uwo.ca>. Do not send me junk mail!
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Subject: Document format
-
- Each question begins with `Subject:' on a line of its own. If you have a
- suitably equipped newsreader then you can automatically skip to the start
- of the next section, e.g. trn will display the start of the section when
- you press ^G (control-G). Of course if your newsreader won't do that
- automatically, you can still use a search command to find the next
- question: For example, to find the answer to question X.Y (where X and Y
- are numbers) search for a line beginning with `Subject: QX.Y)', there will
- be only one. The character sequence `QX.Y)' appears only in the table of
- contents and at the beginning of question X.Y. Recently updated questions
- are marked with a `*' at the beginning of the line in the table of
- contents.
-
- An HTML document, based on this plain text list, is at
- <URL:http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~jamie/hypertext/faq/>. To find out what
- other versions of this document there are see question 6.1.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Table of Contents
-
- A `*' at the beginning of a line in the table of contents marks a
- recently updated question. See question 6.4 for a list of recent updates.
-
- About The alt.hypertext Newsgroup
- Q1.1) What is alt.hypertext about?
- Q1.2) Is it okay to post about new hypertext software, titles, etc. here?
- Software, Literature, Conference Announcements
- Q1.3) Is there an archive of alt.hypertext postings?
- Q1.4) Where are collections of postings about specific topics?
- * Link types
-
- Hypertext In General
- Q2.1) What are hypertext and hypermedia? How do they differ?
- Q2.2) What are some historical milestones about hypertext?
- Q2.3) What conferences are there about hypertext?
-
- Hypertext Models
- Q3.1) What hypertext systems I can read about online?
- Hyper-G, Microcosm, Storyspace, Webthing, World Wide Web, Xanadu
- Q3.2) Are there any hypertext standards?
-
- References to other electronic resources
- Q4.1) About hypertext/hypermedia
- Q4.2) About electronic publications
- Q4.3) About human-computer interaction
-
- I've fallen in with the wrong crowd. Please help me out.
- Q5.1) Help! I'm new to this whole Usenet/'net thing
- Q5.2) I just want to know about WWW/HTML. Where should I go?
- Q5.3) Gosh, this group is noisy. Are there any mailing lists?
- Hyper-theory, ht_lit, EJournal/EJRNL
-
- About this document
- Q6.1) Where can I get a copy? (and some legal niceties)
- Author/Owner, Versions/Availability, Distribution rights
- * Q6.2) Future plans
- Q6.3) Acknowledgments
- Thanks, Citations for quotations
- * Q6.4) Recent changes
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- ** Section 1: About The alt.hypertext Newsgroup **
-
- Subject: Q1.1) What is alt.hypertext about?
-
- alt.hypertext is a Usenet newsgroup intended to support discussion of,
- and dissemination of information about hypertext and hypermedia.
- alt.hypertext is not a suitable forum for discussion of WWW-specific
- issues.
-
- If you would like more information about what a Usenet newsgroup is then
- you should read question 5.1. If you are looking for information about the
- World Wide Web (WWW) or its associated hypertext markup languages (HTML,
- XHTML, etc.) then you should read question 5.2. The answer to question 2.1
- defines hypertext and hypermedia.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Q1.2) Is it okay to post about new hypertext software, titles,
- etc. here?
-
- A. New software
- Announcements about new hypertext products are welcome in
- alt.hypertext. If hypertext is only a minor part of the product then
- please consider setting the Follow-up header to point elsewhere. If
- you are unfamiliar with that way of working then we'd all benefit from
- you reading some of the postings in the news.announce.newusers
- newsgroup.
-
- B. New hypertext literature (fiction and non-fiction)
- Announcements and discussion of works in hypertext and about
- hypertext are both appropriate in alt.hypertext.
-
- C. Conference announcements
- Many conferences have some hypertext components. If you have a
- conference announcement that you think will be of interest to the
- hypertext/hypermedia community then please post a copy of it to
- alt.hypertext. The news.announce.conferences group is another good
- place for such postings.
- Question 2.3 is about conferences related to hypertext.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Q1.3) Is there an archive of alt.hypertext postings?
-
- I know of no publicly accessible archive of alt.hypertext postings. But
- there are some small collections of postings about specific topics. They
- are listed in question 1.4.
-
- If there was an alt.hypertext archive then I'd expect to be able
- to find it in Cameron Laird's List of Usenet Archives at <URL:http://
- starbase.neosoft.com/~claird/news.lists/newsgroup_archives.html> or Kevin
- Atkinson's Usenet Info Center at <URL:http://sunsite.unc.edu/usenet-i/
- home.html>.
-
- To find old postings and discussions you could use a search engine, such
- as Deja News <URL:http://www.dejanews.com/> or Alta Vista <URL:
- http://altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/query?text=yes&what=news>. You
- might also find something at Infinite Ink's Finding News Groups (use <URL:
- http://www.jazzie.com/ii/internet/newsgroups.html> or <URL:http://www.
- best.com/~ii/internet/newsgroups.html>) or Yahoo! <URL:http://www.yahoo.
- com/text/News/Usenet/> helpful. Cameron Laird provides more suggestions in
- his above mentioned List.
-
- If anyone wants to create an archive, please tell me.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Q1.4) Where are collections of postings about specific topics?
-
- So far I only know of collections of postings about link types. If you
- know of anymore then please tell me so that it may also be included here.
- Question 4.1 lists some online hypertext resources, not just postings that
- appeared in alt.hypertext.
-
- A. Link Types (What they are and how many are enough)
-
- Thomas Trickel has compiled and edited a discussion of link types
- from 1993 in various hypertext systems into <URL:http://trickel.org/
- thomas/hypertext/usentlnk.htm>. He has also written a short
- related essay about link properties at <URL:http://www.trickel.org/
- thomas/hypertext/linkprop.htm>. J. Blustein also has a summary of
- the discussion at <URL: http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~jamie/.Refs/
- LinkTypes/alt.hypertext-link.type-summary.html>.
-
- [These links were verified on 2006-03-21, 21 March 2006]
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- ** Section 2: Hypertext In General **
-
- Subject: Q2.1) What are hypertext and hypermedia? How do they differ?
-
- The OED Additions Series defines hypertext as
- Text which does not form a single sequence and which may be read
- in various orders; specially text and graphics ... which are
- interconnected in such a way that a reader of the material (as
- displayed at a computer terminal, etc.) can discontinue reading
- one document at certain points in order to consult other related
- matter. [See Q6.3 for complete citation]
-
- Theodore `Ted' Nelson, who first coined the terms hypertext and
- hypermedia, wrote in _Literary Machines_ that `As popularly conceived,
- [hypertext] is a series of text chunks connected by links which offer the
- reader different pathways.' Neither hypertext nor hypermedia require the
- use of links.
-
- Hypermedia is similar to hypertext but includes media other than text,
- e.g. a hypermedia document could include text and graphics, or sound and
- animation.
-
- Mark Bernstein has pointed out that, in practice, many hypertext
- documents have some graphical content (just as texts often include
- illustrations). Note that the definition quoted above makes the same
- point. The distinction between hypertext and hypermedia is so blurry that
- some authors call them both hypertext.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Q2.2) What are some historical milestones about hypertext?
-
- Vannevar Bush is often credited with describing the first hypermedia
- system, named memex. He wrote about it in his 1945 article _As We May
- Think_. There is an HTML versions at <URL:http://www.theatlantic.com/
- unbound/flashbks/computer/bushf.htm>. Paul Otlet has also been credited
- with the development of what we now think of as hypertext, in 1934. See
- <URL:http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/~wrayward/otlet/xanadu.htm> for a version
- of an article from the Journal of the American Society for Information
- Science v.45 pp.235-250 for more details.
- Ted Nelson coined the terms hypertext and hypermedia to describe his
- proposed system called Xanadu. According to an article in Vassar College's
- Miscellany News, he used the term hypertext in a talk there in 1965
- <URL:http://iberia.vassar.edu/~mijoyce/Ted_sed.html>. The Xanadu homepage
- is at <URL:http://www.xanadu.com.au/xanadu/>. His book _Literary Machines_
- is largely about Xanadu. Douglas Engelbart demonstrated the first
- computerized hypertext system, called NLS/Augment circa 1968. He also
- invented the computer mouse, graphical user interface, etc.! For more
- information about Englebart and his projects see the Bootstrap Alliance
- homepage at <URL:http://www.bootstrap.org/>. Randy Trigg wrote the first
- Ph.D. dissertation based on hypertext circa 1986. The first hypertext
- conference was held in 1987. The alt.hypertext newsgroup was created in
- 1992.
-
- _Memex and Beyond_ is a major research, educational, and collaborative
- web site integrating the historical record of and current research in
- hypermedia: <URL:http://www.cs.brown.edu/memex/>.
-
- Jorn Barger's hypertext timeline is at <URL:http://www.robotwisdom.com/
- web/timeline.html>.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Q2.3) What conferences are there about hypertext?
-
- Hypertext is used in many computer-based technologies and so you can find
- hypertext in many fields of inquiry. For example you can find articles and
- presentations in about hypertext in conferences about: digital libraries,
- documentation, education, literature, and user interfaces. There are
- however two main conferences for the discussion and study of hypertext in
- general: the Hypertext conference (HT) and Digital Arts and Culture (DAC).
- Of course the World-Wide Web (WWW) and Annual Conference on World-Wide Web
- Applications (ACWWWA) will be of interest to many people who read this
- document as well.
-
- Hypertext is a broad-based conference for exchanges about hypertext. It
- draws artists, developers, and researchers. According to the DAC 2001
- homepage, DAC `aims to embrace and explore the cross-disciplinary and
- cross-cultural theory and practice of contemporary digital arts and
- culture.'
-
- Information about those conferences, or links to that information, can be
- found at
- * Hypertext: <URL:http://www.acm.org/sigweb/>
- * DAC: <URL:http://www.stg.brown.edu/conferences/DAC/>
- * WWW: <URL:http://www.w3.org/Conferences/Overview-WWW>
- * ACWWWA: <URL:http://www.rau.ac.za/conf/www2001/>
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- ** Section 3: Hypertext Models **
-
- Subject: Q3.1) What hypertext systems I can read about online?
-
- It seems impractical to list all of the myriad of hypertext/hypermedia
- systems available today. I've included some major systems here. If you
- feel that some other system has been unfairly excluded then please write
- me. If this list grows too long then it might become a separate posting or
- removed altogether. See also HyTime in question 3.2 below. The Electronic
- Literature Organization might have a list of hypertext tools and systems
- available at their website <URL:http://www.eliterature.org/>.
-
- * HyperWave (formerly Hyper-G) <URL:http://www.hyperwave.com>
- HyperWave is a sophisticated Web document management system
- for large information spaces. The project began under the name
- Hyper-G in 1990. Among other things, it features hierarchical
- structuring, link management, attribute and full text search,
- access control, and interactive link and document editing.
-
- See also the comp.infosystems.hyperg newsgroup.
-
- * Microcosm <URL:http://www.multicosm.com/microcosm/index.html>
- An open and extensible hypermedia system designed for managing
- and disseminating unstructured digitally encoded files.
- [URL updated 11 Jan 1998]
-
- * Storyspace <URL:http://www.eastgate.com/Storyspace.html> A
- commercial product described as a `writing environment designed
- for the process of writing. Storyspace is especially well suited
- to working with large, complex, and challenging hypertexts.'
- According to Mark Bernstein, its most distinctive features are
- its hierarchical backbone structure and dynamically flexible
- links with `guard fields', i.e. conditional links (links that
- are available only if certain nodes have been visited.
-
- * Webthing <URL:http://www.webthing.com/self-org/>
- Webthing's Holistic Hypertext is an object-oriented hypertext system
- designed for collaborative authoring and implemented on the
- WWW. Documents in Webthing generate HTML links from other documents
- on-the-fly, relieving authors of the need to manage HTML links, and
- eliminating the problem of outdated or uncoordinated references.
- [URL updated 27 Jan 1998]
-
- NB: This system will be unavailable for an unspecified time. For more
- information send e-mail to <webthing@webthing.com> or see the
- Webthing, Ltd. website at <URL:http://www.webthing.com>.
-
- A search for WWW-based wikis will likely turn up systems with
- related functionality. A search for the term open hypermedia
- sytem will likely turn up more systems and architectures.
- [Note added 08 May 2002]
-
- * World Wide Web <URL:http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/WWW/>
- A very popular link-based hypertext system based on a client-server
- architecture running on the Internet.
-
- See also question 5.2 for some other resources.
-
- * Xanadu <URL:http://www.xanadu.com.au/xanadu/>
- The system Ted Nelson wrote about in his ground breaking book
- _Literary Machines_.
-
- See also the Xanadu FAQ list (posted to several newsgroups, including
- alt.hypertext, and available: (a) in text form from <URL:ftp://rtfm.
- mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/xanadu-faq>; (b) and HTML form from
- <URL:http://xanadu.com.au/xanadu/faq.html>).
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Q3.2) Are there any hypertext standards?
-
- Yes, the extensible markup language (XML) and its related standards are
- rapidly being taken up and will all be official very soon. Some of those
- related standards include XLink and XPointer (for linking and related
- activities) and the synchronized multimedia integration language (SMIL) for
- synchronized events.
-
- Robin Cover has an outstanding index of XML material at <URL:
- http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/xml.html>.
-
- There is also a, mostly outdated, ISO standard for describing hypermedia
- called HyTime. The full title of that standard is _Information Technology -
- Hypermedia/Time-based Structuring Language (HyTime)_ (ISO/IEC 10744:1992).
- It is an international standard for describing hypermedia. The original
- standard (not including the Technical Corrigendum) was edited by Charles
- F. Goldfarb (with assistance from Steven R. Newcomb). The standard was
- published in Geneva by the International Organization for
- Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission in 1992.
-
- Many pointers to HyTime information are available from the HyTime User's
- Group homepage <URL:http://www.HyTime.org> and Robin Cover's HyTime webpage
- <URL:http://www.sil.org/sgml/hytime.html>. Both the comp.text.sgml and
- alt.hypertext newsgroups host HyTime discussions.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- ** Section 4: References to other electronic resources **
-
- Subject: Q4.1) About hypertext/hypermedia
-
- There are far too many online resources about hypertext to list here so
- only the most major ones are included here. As with all sections of this
- list, your suggestions for additions are welcome.
-
- * SIGWEB (the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest
- Group on Hypertext/Hypermedia) has a WWW homepage at
- <URL:http://www.acm.org/sigweb/>.
-
- * The Open Directory Project <URL:http://dmoz.org/> lists hypertext
- in at least these four categories: Critical (literary) theory,
- Information overload, Fiction E-zines, and Ted Nelson's
- multi-dimensional data organizing system, Zig Zag.
-
- * LINKBase is a bibliographic reference system for hypertext-related
- publications at
- <URL:http://www.njit.edu/Professional_Society/SIGLINK.html>.
-
- * The Hypertext/-media Resources at the University of Konstanz are
- quite good:
- <URL:http://www.inf-wiss.uni-konstanz.de/Res/hypertext_e.html>.
-
- * Eastgate Systems's Selected Hypertext Resources on the Web is
- a compilation of resources on hypertext theory, hypertext fiction,
- and criticism, including many original essays and reviews. It is at
- <URL:http://www.eastgate.com/Hypertext.html>.
-
- * BowerBird was a specialized search engine on hypertext topics. The
- engine was created by Adrian Miles. It used to be at <URL:
- http://bowerbird.rmit.edu.au:8080/> but has been indefinitely
- suspended.
-
- * Collections of previous alt.hypertext discussions are listed in
- question 1.3.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Q4.2) About electronic publications
-
- There are so many documents about electronic publications that it is very
- difficult to list even one that is of particular interest for hypertext.
-
- The description of alt.etext in the Usenet Info Center at <URL:http://
- sunsite.unc.edu/usenet-i/groups-html/alt.etext.html> contains references to
- some sites.
-
- EJournal (which is discussed in question 5.3) is particularly occupied
- with electronic text.
-
- SIGWEB members have access to electronic copies of most of the ACM
- Hypertext and Digital Libraries proceedings. (See question 4.1 for
- information about SIGWEB.)
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Q4.3) About human-computer interaction
-
- There is much information and opinion about HCI available electronically.
- I expect that from what is listed here you will be able to find what you
- want.
-
- Keith Instone maintains Usable Web (a guide to WWW usability resources)
- at <URL:http://usableweb.com/>.
-
- Gary Perlman's _what's happening_ column in _interactions_ magazine is a
- great place to find out about HCI resources on the 'net <URL:http://www.
- acm.org/~perlman/interactions/resources.html>. He suggested the following
- newsgroups are relevant for HCI researchers: comp.human-factors,
- comp.cog-eng, sci.cognitive, sci.psychology, and comp.groupware. The
- human-factors group has an old FAQ list at <URL:
- http://edgarmatias.com/faq/>.
-
- The WWW Virtual Library once had sections for HCI and Cognitive Science
- (at <URL:http://hydra.bgsu.edu/HCI/> and <URL:http://www.cog.brown.edu
- /pointers/cognitive.html> respectively).
-
- Noted hypermedia expert Jakob Nielsen writes a monthly column, called
- Alertbox, about HCI with a particular focus on the WWW. Articles are
- available at <URL:http://www.useit.com/alertbox/>.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- ** Section 5: I've fallen in with the wrong crowd. Please help me out. **
-
- Subject: Q5.1) Help! I'm new to this whole Usenet/'net thing
-
- The following two newsgroups contain some excellent introductory
- postings: news.announce.newusers and news.newusers.questions.
-
- Whoever is providing you with access to Usenet should be able to give you
- some basic introduction or instruction. This isn't because they are
- necessarily nice, but because if they don't at least attempt to tell you
- the basics then they can't blame you when you do something awful. If they
- haven't offered you any advice or instruction then ask someone responsible
- for some pointers to useful information. I advise you not to ask another
- newcomer -- that is a great way to propagate misconceptions.
-
- There are many introductory books about the global Internet and Usenet.
- If you learn well from books then you might consider buying one or
- borrowing it from a library. Some books are available for free, others are
- available for sampling online as an enticement to get you to buy them. For
- a fuller discussion of such books see: (a) the misc.books.technical
- newsgroup; (b) the Unofficial Internet Book List at the rtfm.mit.edu FTP
- site <URL:ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/internet-services/
- book-list>.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Q5.2) I just want to know about WWW/HTML. Where should I go?
-
- There are several newsgroups devoted exclusively to discussion of the
- WWW. For an overview of those groups see Thomas Boutell's FAQ list at
- <URL:http://www.boutell.com/faq/> or in one of the comp.infosystems.www
- newsgroups, alt.culture.www or in an archive of news.answers postings such
- as at <URL:ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/www/faq/intro>.
-
- There are many online resources about HTML. I have no particular one to
- recommend however.
- If you are looking for information about ease of use then you might be
- interested in:
- * All Things Web which calls itself `A collection of resources for
- Webspinners & authors' at <URL:http://www.pantos.org/atw/> (but which
- doesn't seem to have been updated in a few years);
-
- * Rapid Navigation in Online Documents: Design of documents and viewers
- to support structured hypertext and easy skimming (Michael Hoffman's
- collection of opinions and pointers) at
- <URL:http://www.hypertextnavigation.com/>;
-
- * Question 4.3 about human-computer interaction.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Q5.3) Gosh, this group is noisy. Are there any mailing lists?
-
- Yes, there are some mailing lists about the issues which are also
- appropriate for alt.hypertext. Specifically, there are the HYPER-THEORY
- and HT_LIT lists. EJournal (an electronic journal) has discussion of
- hypertext issues, but it is not a discussion list. Details of all of those
- mailing lists are below. You might also be interested in the list of
- conferences related to hypertext (in question 2.3).
-
- At the Hypertext 2000 Authors' Workshop about twelve lists were mentioned
- that might be of interest to hypertext authors. If you are want to learn
- more about those lists then I suggest that you check out the Electronic
- Literature Organization's website, at <URL:http://www.eliterature.org/>,
- because they have a much better chance of keeping up with the ever changing
- world of mailing lists than I do.
-
- For a more complete list of mailing lists see _Publicly Accessible
- Mailing Lists_ and _Mailing Lists Available in Usenet_. Both are available
- through Usenet and are archived at many sites. Details about all of those
- lists are also below.
-
- A. HYPER-THEORY
- The hyper-theory mailing list was created to serve as a medium for
- discussion on hypermedia theory, to help researchers, developers, and
- users pursue their interests in the field of hypermedia theory and
- implementation details, this list was created to serve as a high
- signal to noise ratio resource.
- The list owner, Art Pollard, reserves the right to move the mailing
- list into a moderated format if it is necessary to maintain the list's
- focus.
-
- TO SUBSCRIBE:
- Send an e-mail message to majordomo@math.byu.edu containing:
- subscribe hyper-theory <your e-mail address>
- in the *body* of the message.
-
- After subscribing, you will receive this description of the
- list as well as additional instructions for unsubscribing.
-
- B. HT_LIT
- The ht_lit mailing list is for the discussion of hypertext fiction,
- hypertext theory, and hypertext and literary studies. There is an
- archive at <URL:ftp://consecol.org/pub/ht_lit/>. Kia Mennie
- <kmm@aaln.org> is the list owner. Feel free to contact her for more
- information before subscribing.
-
- TO SUBSCRIBE:
- Send an e-mail message to subscribe@journal.biology.carleton.ca
- containing:
- subscribe ht_lit
- in the *body* of the message.
-
- C. EJournal (aka EJRNL)
- From the homepage:
- EJournal is an all-electronic, e-mail delivered, peer-reviewed,
- academic periodical. We are particularly interested in theory
- and practice surrounding the creation, transmission, storage,
- interpretation, alteration and replication of electronic `text'
- -- including `display' -- broadly defined. We are also
- interested in the broader social, psychological, literary,
- economic and pedagogical implications of computer-mediated
- networks. The journal's essays are delivered free to Internet
- addressees.
-
- TO SUBSCRIBE:
- Send an e-mail message to listserv@albany.edu with the following as
- the first (and only) line of text:
- SUB EJRNL Your Name
- .
-
- Further details about the journal and its archives can be found on its
- homepage at <URL:http://www.hanover.edu/philos/ejournal/>.
-
-
- Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists
- Posted to news.lists, and news.answers by Stephanie da Silva.
- Archived at <URL:http://www.neosoft.com/internet/paml>,
- <URL:ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/news.
- answers/mail/mailing-lists> (and mirror sites).
-
- Mailing Lists Available in Usenet
- Posted to the following newsgroups: news.lists, news.groups,
- news.announce.newgroups, bit.admin, and news.answers by Dave
- Lawrence.
- Archived at <URL:ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/news.answers/
- mail/news-gateways> (and mirror sites).
-
- Electronic Literature Organization website
- The ELO is a not-for-profit organization with a mission `to facilitate
- and promote the writing, publishing, and reading of literature in
- electronic media'. They might have a list of mailing lists of interest
- to readers and authors of hypertext and hypertext-like literature.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- ** Section 6: About this document **
-
- Subject: Q6.1) Where can I get a copy? (and some legal niceties)
-
- A. Author/Owner
- This document was written by J. Blustein. Please send constructive
- criticism (and compliments) by e-mail to <jamie@csd.uwo.ca>. The
- author completed a Ph.D. (about hypertext) in the Department of Computer
- Science at the University of Western Ontario in 1999, and has been
- studying hypertext since 1991.
-
-
- B. Versions/Availability
- It is posted infrequently to alt.hypertext, alt.answers and
- news.answers by the MIT faqserver. It is updated even less often.
-
- HTML versions should be available at:
- * The Internet FAQ Consortium
- <URL:http://www.faq.org>
- specifically as single part <URL:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/
- hypertext-faq/> or as a
- multi-part <URL:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/hypertext-faq/
- preamble.html>
-
- * Utrecht Univ. (in the Netherlands)
- <URL:http://www.cs.ruu.nl/cgi-bin/faqwais>
- specifically <URL:http://www.cs.ruu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/
- hypertext-faq.html>
-
- * Ohio State Univ. (in the USA)
- <URL:http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/top.html>
- specifically <URL:http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/
- usenet/hypertext-faq/faq.html>
-
- * Univ. of Michigan (in the USA)
- <URL:http://faq.sph.umich.edu/cgi-bin/faqsrch>
- specifically <URL:http://faq.sph.umich.edu/faq/files/
- hypertext-faq>
-
- * Oxford Univ. (in the UK)
- <URL:http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/internet/news/faq/by_group.index.html>
- specifically <URL:http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/internet/news/faq/archive
- /hypertext-faq.html>
- and perhaps other locations too.
-
- I've prepared a HTML version of this list at
- <URL:http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~jamie/hypertext/faq/>. I try to
- update the versions in sync but I can't promise that they'll always be
- exactly the same.
-
-
- C. Distribution rights
- You are free to use this document for your own personal use. You
- are free to distribute it in its entirety. If you wish to distribute
- an incomplete version of the document you must include the following
- information:
- * A note to the effect that the version you have is excerpted from
- the entire list;
- * The entire list is a creation of J. Blustein <jamie@csd.uwo.ca>;
- * The entire list is copyright by J. Blustein (all rights reserved);
- * The entire list is posted infrequently to the alt.hypertext
- Usenet newsgroup and is intended for free distribution;
- * The location where and date when you obtained a copy of the entire
- list.
- I would also appreciate receiving a note (by e-mail) that you are
- using an excerpt from the list.
-
- If you want to distribute a modified version of the list, not just
- excerpts from the list, then you must obtain permission from
- J. Blustein in advance.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Q6.2) Future plans
-
- I'd like to have some discussion of hypertext models (such as Dexter) and
- an explanation of what open hypertext is. Since those questions aren't
- asked (or answered) much I guess those sections can wait.
- Wikis and other collaborative writing environments deserve serious
- attention here. The section about mailing lists should be updated to point
- to Wikis too.
- There needs to be more about the role of the WWW (as a hypertext system
- and an enabling technology). Some discussion and draft Q&A appeared in the
- newsgroup in August 2002 and 2003.
- The part about non-linked hypertext needs more details. An early draft
- was posted on 13 August 2002. New notes appeared exactly a year later too.
- Some URLs need updating and some need replacing. The HCI section in
- particular needs work. Postings from early August 2002 contain the new
- URLs.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Q6.3) Acknowledgments
-
- A. Thanks
- I am grateful to Mark Bernstein and Kia Mennie for their helpful
- comments. I am solely responsible for the content of this list.
- Question 1.2 was included at Thomas Boutell's suggestion.
- Kivi Shapiro caught some typos that I'd missed.
- Jorn Barger has made many suggestions for changes. Some of those
- changes are yet to be implemented.
-
- B. Citations for quotations
- Document Format
- was adapted from similar text in the alt.backrubs FAQ list, with
- the author's permission.
-
- Question 2.1
- The definition of hypertext is quoted from Oxford English
- Dictionary Additions Series (volume 2), edited by John Simpson and
- Edmund Weiner. It was published in 1993 by Clarendon Press.
- The quote from Ted Nelson is from page 0/2 of _Literary Machines_
- (edition 90.1) published by Mindful Press in 1990. The earliest
- copyright date in my copy is 1980. According to the definition of
- hypertext in the OED Additions series (see previous reference), he
- first introduced the term in 1965 at the 20th National Conference of
- the ACM. Question 2.2 lists some other historical milestones about
- hypertext including an (earlier) 1965 publication of the term
- `hyper-text'.
-
- Question 2.2
- The article about Otlet is entitled `Visions of Xanadu: Paul Otlet
- (1868-1944) and Hypertext'. It was written by W. Boyd Rayward and
- appeared in JASIS v.45 on pp.235-250, in 1994. [I took these
- bibliographic details from the WWW version referred to in the
- question and have not confirmed them.]
-
- Question 3.1
- The description of Hyper-G and Hyperwave was supplied by Keith
- Andrews.
- The description of Storyspace was quoted from the web page on 2
- February 1997.
- The description of Webthing was adapted from a submission by Nick
- Kew.
-
- Question 3.2
- The entry was updated on 10 Feb 1997 with information from Robin
- Cover's _SGML Bibliography: Part 4, I - L_ (last modified February
- 07, 1997) at <URL:http://www.sil.org/sgml/bib-il.html#iso10744>.
-
- Question 4.1
- The descriptions of the two Easgate Systems resources were adapted
- from text suggested by Mark Bernstein.
-
- Question 4.3
- The newsgroups and FAQ lists in the Usenet section come from the
- what's happening column in interactions vol. i no. 4 (Oct. 1994) by
- Gary Perlman.
-
- Question 5.1 (about Usenet)
- was taken from an almost identical question in the alt.backrubs
- FAQ list (with the author's permission). Actually, the alt.backrubs
- FAQ maintainer and I are quite close. :)
-
- Question 5.3 (about mailing lists)
- The description of the HYPER-THEORY list is taken from an
- announcement about the list posted by Art Pollard to alt.hypertext,
- comp.infosystems.hyperg, comp.infosystems, comp.infosystems.harvest,
- comp.text.sgml on 17 May 1996 with Message-ID:
- <DrJ6EM.Aqv@news.hawaii.edu>
- The description of the HT_LIT list was taken from the entry in
- PAML (see question 5.3) and updated by Kia Mennie.
- The description of EJournal was quoted from the 2 February 1997
- version of the EJournal homepage.
-
- Question 6.4
- On Andre Deparade's suggestion I began including a list of recent
- significant changes to the list on 27 Jan 1998.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Q6.4) Recent changes
-
- 21 March 2006
- * Q1.4 updated links to Thomas Trickel's link type resources
-
- 13 August 2003
- * Q1.1 included reference to XHTML
- * Q6.2 includes reference to post from 13 August 2003
- --
- J. Blustein http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~jamie <jamie@csd.uwo.ca>
-
- `We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars'
- -- Oscar Wilde
-