GETTING THERE WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE 'THERE' IS: NAVIGATIONAL STRATEGIES IN A HYPERTEXT HELP SYSTEM

1 January 1990

journal article
Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in ACM SIGCHI Bulletin

Vol. 21 (3) , 17-18
https://doi.org/10.1145/379088.1046605

Abstract

Unlike traditional information retrieval systems in which users access information from large databases using boolean operations on keyword strings, users of a hypertext system are free to move between arbitrary nodes in the database by the simple click of a mouse button (See Conklin, 1987 for a major review of hypertext). This architecture encourages users to find information by browsing (Marchionini, 1987). However, in the absence of spatial cues, this method of search can easily lead users to become disoriented ("lost in hyperspace").

Keywords

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:

Information retrieval using a hypertext-based help system
ACM Transactions on Information Systems, 1989
Hypertext: An Introduction and Survey
Computer, 1987