Hyped-media to hyper-media: toward theoretical foundations of design, use and evaluation

Abstract

With the advent of cheap and powerful multimedia computers and hypermedia authoring tools, more and more information that was traditionally disseminated in the printed form are being made available in the hypermedia format. The rate of creation of hypermedia information, both on the World Wide Web and as CD-ROMs, has far out paced developments in the theory of how to design such systems to best facilitate users’ comprehension of, and navigation within, the information being presented. Despite (or perhaps, because of) the commercial success of these systems, their design has largely been guided by common sense and intuitions rather than theory. This situation of practice in the marketplace far out pacing the development of theoretical foundations can potentially lead to a situation where the “hype” surrounding hypermedia wears off in the light of effectiveness, usability and other kinds of problems uncovered from the massive proliferation and use of such systems in all walks of life. The increasing use of hypermedia in critical applications such as education and health care point to an urgent need for consolidating basic scientific research and developing theoretical foundations for the design, use and evaluation of such systems.