HyperContext: Using Context in Adaptive Hypertext

HyperContext is a new model for adaptive hypertext. HyperContext achieves adaptation of the information and hyperlinks through explicit context. Objects of information in the hypertext obtain their context from their parent objects and in-links. When objects of information are accessed, they are interpreted according to the appropriate context of the parent object and link pair, prior to being presented to the user. All objects of information have a profile, a set of labels which together comprise a context-free description of the object. An object interpretation is a subset of the labels in the profile which comprise a description of the object relevant to the context in which it exists. Labels become links when they are associated with objects of information in some context. The same label can appear in different interpretations of an object of information, and in each interpretation the same label can be linked to different objects. HyperContext is a three-layer model. The Object Layer is an unstructured collection of object representations. The Structure Layer is a hypertextual representation of interpretations of the objects in the Object Layer. Users interact with HyperContext through the Presentation Layer. Three Information Retrieval methods, which support context-free and context-sensitive search, are also presented.