Modelling hypermedia implementation and nodeless hypermedia

This thesis addresses several areas in the field of hypermedia research. First the core concepts of hypermedia, nodes, links etc. are examined and in each case existing work is considered along with new concepts in order to form a standardised toolkit. Secondly, the modelling of hypermedia implementation is considered. In this section the development of a modelling scheme is traced and the advantages and disadvantages of each approach are discussed. Thirdly, a particular system based on these models, Goate, is introduced. The design, usefulness and drawbacks of Goate are discussed. Some examples of linking specifications implemented with Goate are given and discussed. Fourthly, an entirely different way of modelling hypermedia that doesn’t rely on the concept of a node is introduced. This approach, named Atomic Hypermedia, is based around the single data construct of an atom, where each atom holds a single character. Lastly, a language named Hedgehog is introduced which is designed for the manipulation of Atomic Hypermedia. This section details the motivation and structure of Hedgehog, as well as providing examples of operations on Atomic Hypermedia.