Semantic control of open hypertext systems by typed objects

Abstract

The C(K)onstance Hypertext system (KHS) is an elaborated example of an open hypertext system. Open hypertext systems combine heterogeneous resources and different hypertext applications such as e-mail, text and image hypertexts with access to online databases or other information resources. These hypertexts, to which heterogeneous users have access, grow steadily in size. This paper takes an object-oriented approach and proposes a rigorous typing of hypertext objects to overcome the problems of open hypertext. The advantage of this typing is shown on an e-mail hypertext as a special application of the KHS system. KHS is written in Smalltalk and is being developed on UNIX-machines.