Hypertext: a Psychological Perspective

While the ideas underlying hypertext have been around for a long time, it is only comparatively recently that the availability of powerful desktop microcomputers has enabled hypertext systems to become commercially viable tools. While developments in hypertext in recent years have been very much technology-oriented, interest is now centring on the effects of the technology from a human psychological perspective.

Written by leading figures in the field the authors look at the psychological considerations such as memory, education and navigation underlying the design of hypertext systems. Addressing itself to the full range of psychological issues, with direct reference to practical applications, this book places the technology within the domain of human activities and thereby provides a broader perspective on the role and value of emerging information systems.

Readership: Researchers, postgraduates and senior-level undergraduates in psychology and cognitive science. Also of interest to students and researchers in information science, computer science, ergonomics, software design, educational technology and human factors.

Contents

Chapter 1: Why Psychology?
Cliff McKnight, Andrew Dillon and John Richardson
Chapter 2: An Alternative Rhetoric for Hypertext
Peter Whalley
Chapter 3: The Textbook of the Future
Donald J. Cunningham, Thomas M. Duffy and Randy A. Knuth
Chapter 4: Learning with Hypertext: Problems, Principles and Prospects
Nick Hammond
Chapter 5: Enhancing the Usability of Text Through Computer Delivery and Formative Evaluation: the SuperBook Project
Thomas Landauer, Dennis Egan, Joel Remde, Michael Lesk, Carol Lochbaum and Daniel Ketchum
Chapter 6: To Jump or Not to Jump : Strategy Selection While Reading Electronic Texts
Patricia Wright
Chapter 7: Effects Of Semantically Structured Hypertext Knowledge Bases on Users' Knowledge Structures
David H. Jonassen
Chapter 8: Space -- the Final Chapter or Why Physical Representations are not Semantic Intentions
Andrew Dillon, Cliff McKnight and John Richardson

(Source: Publisher's catalogue copy)