D. J. Moore’s research while affiliated with University of Leeds and other places

Hypermedia offers benefits for users who wish to find information and users who wish to learn about a particular topic (Jonassen and Grabinger 1993). However, hypermedia is also plagued by drawbacks that were identified early in its inception (Conklin 1987) but which are still present (Theng and Thimbleby, 1998). Recent hypermedia research has focussed on alleviating one of the classic problems of hypermedia, namely the problem of the user becoming lost whilst using it. One such approach is called Adaptive-Hypermedia (AH), and seeks to reduce the navigation burden upon the user by removing links that are not useful (Brusilovsky 1996). However, AH relies upon extracting information from the user about which links are likely to be useful or not useful. This is the crux of adaptive hypermedia (Brusilovsky 1996). This paper investigates one possible solution to this problem, namely identifying the browsing patterns that a user makes as they navigate and using them to infer what the user is using the hypermedia for. Once this information has been identified than it can be used in an Adaptive Hypermedia System to aid the user in their navigation. We discuss our prototype hypermedia system which is used to record and attach meaning to browsing patterns with a view to employing the information in future hypermedia systems. Experiments, conducted to investigate how different types of users make different browsing patterns as they used our prototype hypermedia system, are outlined and discussed. It is argued that these experiments and supporting research give strong grounds for the use of browsing patterns as a means of obtaining information about a user without distracting them.

The premise of this paper is that agent t echnology in collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) may be e nriched by incorporating an emotional channel alongside the conventional informational content, and that this would b e best achieved through an associated visual human embodiment or avatar. Since humans express emotion in face- to-face encounters primarily through facial expression, an investigation was undertaken in order to establish how such expressions might be e ffectively and efficiently captured and represented in an avatar. The study involved consulting socio- psychological research relating to face-to-face e ncounters, followed b y a c ontrolled experiment t o investigate user ability to interpret the faces of the a vatars pre-prepared to express s pecific emotions. Effectiveness was demonstrated through good recognition rates for all but one of the emotion categories, and efficiency was established since a reduced feature set was found to be sufficient to build the successfully recognised core set of avatar facial expressions.

This chapter explores one aspect of interaction in virtual environments, namely the degree of "presence" experienced by participants in relation to the avatar style used to represent them. A prototype virtual art gallery was created as a vehicle for conducting a series of online experiments designed to measure and compare the effects of different forms of avatar on presence. The choice of experimental procedure, together with analysis and interpretation of the results, are presented.

This paper discusses two projects aimed at utilising the educational potential of hypermedia whilst avoiding the danger of the user becoming "lost in hyperspace".

Described within this paper is an adaptive hypermedia system (AHS) that utilises symbolic AI and connectionist AI to provide generic student modelling. The needs for generic tutoring systems are discussed, in terms of a system that is applicable to a multitude of teaching domains, whilst maintaining diagnostic facilities of the student. The hypermedia architecture is based on a semantic -network allowing the use of automatic reasoning to produce weighted links. A type of student model is employed to record information about the student so that the weighted links can be tailored for the student's interests. A neural network is used to grade the student into an ability level based upon their interactions with tutorials. A further neural network is us ed to recognise the movements students make as they browse the hypermedia and link it to tasks and abilities. This offers the potential to extract information about the student without direct dialogues.

Argues for the importance of applying strategic considerations to the utilization of multimedia technologies, with particular reference to their use as training aids. Provides a practical illustration and reinforcement of the principle that a strong strategic base is essential within the development of information systems. Presents a case for the value of multimedia technologies, then argues that a strategic approach is needed if the potential offered by multimedia training is to be realized. Finally, proposes specific guidelines regarding the formulation of such a strategy.

This paper discusses two projects aimed at utilising the educational potential of hypermedia whilst avoiding the danger of the user becoming “lost in hyperspace”. The first project adopts a connectionist approach to configure dynamically the links made available to the user. The paper outlines the neural network approaches adopted and reports on results to date. The second project concerns the development of educational packages providing a range of navigational aids to the user, and the paper reports on empirical work involving the use of such a package by students in a tutorial context