Contexts—a partitioning concept for hypertext

ABSTRACT

Hypertext systems provide good information management support for a wide variety of documentation efforts. These efforts range from developing software to writing a book. However, existing hypertext systems provide poor support for collaboration among teams of authors. This paper starts by briefly describing properties of several existing hypertext systems. Then several models for forming partitions in a hypertext database are examined and contexts, a partitioning scheme that supports multiperson cooperative efforts, are introduced. The semantic issues involved in defining contexts are explored in detail.

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INDEX TERMS

Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.7 Distribution, Maintenance, and Enhancement
          Subjects: Version control

  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.4 Systems and Software
          Subjects: Question-answering (fact retrieval) systems**
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS

  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.7 DOCUMENT AND TEXT PROCESSING

General Terms:
Design, Documentation, Management