Parsing and interpreting ambiguous structures in spatial hypermedia

Abstract

When reflecting on information, spatial hypermedia users express their understanding of the information's structure visually. In order to facilitate this process, spatial hypermedia uses spatial parsers that enable systems to infer the structure of information based on the implicit relationships between components of the representation. This paper describes the two main purposes of spatial parsers in spatial hypermedia systems and how particular parsing approaches and features influence their effectiveness and responsiveness. An alternative approach that provides better support for ambiguity and adaptability is instantiated in FLAPS, an adaptive spatial parser that uses fuzzy-logic in order to infer the implicit structure of spatial hypermedia. The comparison of FLAPS to other parsers reveals benefits of supporting ambiguous structures by computing multiple possible interpretations and identifies limitations that provide goals for future spatial parsers.