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- Newsgroups: alt.hypertext
- Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!agate!linus!alliant!mydual!olson
- From: olson@mydual.uucp (Kirtland H. Olson)
- Subject: Print and Thought in Hypertext
- Message-ID: <1992Sep8.125437.3981@mydual.uucp>
- Reply-To: olson%mydual.uucp@alliant.com
- Organization: The Harvard Group, 01451-0667
- Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 12:54:37 GMT
- Lines: 59
-
- Here are some off-the-beaten-track references for people interested in
- hypertext.
-
- First, some printed hypertexts done between 1979 & 1984. Bantam Books
- produced a series called "Choose Your Own Adventure" that had 15 titles
- in 1980, and 38 titles by 1984. A corresponding series for younger
- readers reached 22 titles by 1984.
-
- I picked up two of these at a garage sale, and sketched a diagram of the
- text links for one. I am convinced from the diagram that this is truly
- hypertext, not just a decision tree. I base this on the fact that the
- one I diagrammed has 27 possible endings and the stories traverse the
- same node at differing points. ISBN 0-553-23182-0 is the one I traced.
-
- Authors in the series include Edward Packard, R. A. Montgomery, D. Terman,
- & Jay Leibold. These may give some insight into ways that an author
- makes a node independent of the allowed entry paths.
-
- Second, a pointer to an older book that approached chains of reasoning
- for AI, and might be worth skimming for quick insights. Refer to
- "Scripts, Plans, Goals, and Understanding" by Roger Schank and Robert
- Abelson, ISBN 0-470-99033-3 (1977).
-
- From that book, I find this useful: "A very simple causal syntax exists
- in natural thought, a syntax that can be violated in natural language
- expression. In the reconstruction of the thought that underlies the
- utterance, the causal syntax must be rigidly obeyed." (Page 24)
-
- And finally, a snippet of Piaget's work as reported in "Understanding
- Piaget," ISBN 0-06-013454-2, Revised Ed. 1980, Pages 60-61. "In one
- experiment in this series, Piaget and his co-worker Inhelder presented their
- subjects with a variety of geometric figures, some made of wood and some of
- plastic. Moreover, objects of the same shape came in different colors:
- there were red and blue squares as well as circles. The children were
- asked to put together the objects that were alike. They might group
- them on the basis of shape, or color, or material, or even angularity as
- opposed to roundness.
-
- "The results showed that the youngest children tended to form what
- Piaget called graphic collections. The objects were sorted on some
- basis of similarity, but the bases tended to change as a child
- proceeded. For example, he might make a row of four squares, the last
- two of which were red. Then, as if the redness took precedence over the
- shape, he might add red circles or red triangles. Some children made
- simple designs, others more complex mosaics; in other words, the sorting
- was based not on logical classes but on perceptual attributes."
-
- Since the minds of children are less disguised and less trained than
- those of adults, I think they act more naturally. If the natural bent
- is to move among perceived similarities, I suggest that linking a
- hypertext should provide similar possibilities and further that lost in
- hyperspace may be a trained incapacity of persons who understand logical
- classes (and may be trained to think them "better").
-
-
-
-
- --
- Kirtland H. Olson olson%mydual.uucp@alliant.com
-