4.0819 Hypertext & Hypermedia Bibliography (1/132)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Thu, 6 Dec 90 22:16:02 EST

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0819. Thursday, 6 Dec 1990.

Date: Fri, 23 Nov 90 09:28:45 EST
From: Terence Harpold <tharpold@pennsas.upenn.edu>
Forwarded by: Willard McCarty <MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
from PmC <PMC@ncsuvm.ncsu.edu>
Subject: Re: Hypertext bibliography


Hypertext and Hypermedia: A Selected Bibliography

Terence Harpold
Group in Comparative Literature
University of Pennsylvania

BitNet: tharpold@pennsas.upenn.edu
CompuServe: 72647,2452
America Online: THARPOLD

A Prefatory Note

The following is a prepublication version of a bibliography I compiled
for The Hypertext/Hypermedia Handbook, eds. Joe Devlin and Emily Berk
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991). The Handbook is scheduled to appear in
print in the first quarter of 1991. In the hope that other hypertext
researchers might find this material of use before then, I've asked John
Unsworth to distribute it though PMC-TALK.

I expect to add some items to the bibliography (and correct the missing
pagination for items from the Handbook) before it goes to press. I
would appreciate any comments, and suggestions for missing items.
(Please keep in mind the criteria that I have set for the bibliography in
my introductory comments.)

Suggestions for additions should be sent to one of the above e-mail
addresses prior to December 10. Please make sure that items are
complete and correctly formatted.

(This document is being distributed prior to its paper publication with
the kind permission of Joe Devlin, Emily Berk and McGraw-Hill, Inc.)

........................................................................

In the thirty years following the 1945 publication of Vannevar Bush's
"As We May Think," the literature of hypertext amounted to fewer than
two dozen titles, the majority of which were the product of only two
authors. In the next ten years, the literature doubled, or perhaps
tripled, in size. Since 1985, the number of articles or books dealing
with the theory, design and implementation of hypertext has grown--and
continues to grow--prodigiously, to the point where it has become
impossible to compile a single list of every relevant title.

In the last two or three years, the character of the literature has
changed as well. Whereas the bulk of hypertext literature continues to
deal with the technical problems of design and implementation that
were the focus of most of the early literature, authors are turning with
increasing frequency to the epistemological, philosophical and
sociological consequences of hypertext, and borrowing methods and
terminology from disciplines far removed from computer science. It
may be that hypertext studies have reached a kind of intellectual
crossroads, where the technical problems have become sufficiently
familiar that it is now possible to address the consequences of this
new form of literature as a new literary form. Michael Joyce has
recently argued that this sea change has already passed us. I suspect
that Ted Nelson would contend that it came several decades ago.

For the reasons outlined above, this bibliography can claim to be
neither comprehensive, nor definitive. Rather than attempt to address
the range of hypertext studies, I've selected a core set of titles on
hypertext theory and design. With a few exceptions, I've excluded
publications that deal with the capabilities or implementation of
specific hypertext software, or with test cases of hypertext
applications.

The bibliography is divided into six sections:

The first section, "Bibliography," includes other bibliographies of
hypertext literature. The length and focus of these bibliographies vary;
several include articles on implementation and applications that I have
excluded from this bibliography. The most comprehensive are Simpson's
Hypertext: A Comprehensive Index (which includes an exhaustive topic-
oriented index of keywords), and Yankelovich and Kahn's Hypermedia
Bibliography.

"Collections and Proceedings" lists edited collections, conference
proceedings and journals devoted to hypertext and hypermedia. Many of
the individual articles in the sections that follow can be found in these
collections.

"History and Overview" lists books and articles of historic
significance in hypertext studies (articles by Bush, Engelbart and
Nelson), or those which offer an historical assessment of early
hypertext systems. The notion of history I've used here is admittedly
fuzzy: it's difficult to divide the "recent" from the "historic" in a field
where literature that is less that ten years old can be said to be
genuinely "historic."

The fourth section is by far the longest. Without the benefit of a
nonlinear, on-line presentation, it is difficult organize these titles
under a rubric less general than "Theory and Design." Many of these
publications cross boundaries between theory and design; most belong
to one or more categories within those areas.

The fifth section, "Critique," includes titles that are skeptical or
openly critical of hypertext and the theoretical and practical
assumptions upon which it is based. Proponents of hypertext often
make extraordinary, passionate claims for it; the articles in this
section are among the few on the topic that question those claims.

The final section, "Background," lists books and articles not directly
related to hypertext theory or design, but which are frequently cited by
authors writing on those topics. Subjects represented in this section
include interface design, the psychology, philosophy, sociology and
history of computers, the theoretical and practical significance of
electronic publishing, and language and information theories. As the
definition of what qualifies as hypertext literature grows, the scope of
this list will grow accordingly.

I would like to thank Rosemary Simpson for her advice and direction in
the compilation of this bibliography.

Terence Harpold
Philadelphia, October 1990.

[...]

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