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From: rkl@cbnewsh.att.com (kevin.laux)
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
Subject: Re: Multimedia, Hypermedia, Hypertext?
Message-ID: <1991Feb7.143917.16336@cbnewsh.att.com>
Date: 7 Feb 91 14:39:17 GMT
References: <1991Feb04.124036.340@abblund.se> <1991Feb06.095148.27736@abblund.se>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 40

In article <1991Feb06.095148.27736@abblund.se>, nick@abblund.se writes:
> In article <1991Feb5.140305.9957@cbnewsh.att.com> rkl@cbnewsh.att.com (kevin.laux) writes:
> >In article <1991Feb04.124036.340@abblund.se>, nick@abblund.se writes:
> >
> >> HYPERMEDIA: Same as multimedia but interactive. Interaction is via 
> >> associative links.
> >
> >	Hypermedia is a method of linking/organizing media.  It does not
> >have to interactive.  Interactive should describe the relationship that
> >occurs between the user and the application, not how the application is
> >internally structured.
> >
> 
> How can these links be used if the media is not interactive? The
> structure must be there for a reason, and that reason must surely be
> that the hypermedia is intended for an end-user, and that the user
> should navigate through the structure, and this must be through some
> kind of interaction. I can't think of any counter-example to this,
> though I'd be happy to be proved wrong.

	Why should the user be required to navigate through the links?
Suppose I had a very large database.  It could take me hours to search
through it to find the snippet of information that I want.  It would be
much easier for a "ferret" program to do the searching for me.  An excellent
example can be found in the book _Earth_ by David Brin.  The book is
science fiction, but presents a very plausible scenario where the "net"
extends just about *everywhere* and the amount of information accessible
was so great that special purpose programs were needed to retrieve data.

	I can see that this net and others are evolving in this direction,
and as the bandwidth increases, users won't either want to or have the time
to do the searches manually.  They will want to say 'just get me this or
that' be it a single datum, a series of articles, film clips, etc.  That
is why hypermedia need not be interactive.

-- 
________________________________________________________________________________
	R. Kevin Laux				Email: rkl1@hound.att.com
	AT&T Bell Labs				Voice: (908) 949-1160
	Holmdel, NJ 07733			Fax:   (908) 949-0959