Lost in hyperspace

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When lost in hyperspace (rarely Lost in hypertext ) refers to the phenomenon of disorientation, the reader when reading hypertext can experience -documents.

Hypertext

If the information is spread over pages that are only linked by hyperlinks , and the reader is given options to jump around within the text, he is not sure which parts of the text he has not yet read. In addition, texts made available online can be changed, so that the reader must always expect that texts that have already been read have changed or have been deleted and that others have been added. This situation is sometimes perceived as unsatisfactory by readers who are used to traditional texts. They then feel “lost” in the text corpus instead of perceiving the freedom of choice as enriching. In addition, links the reader to click on topics seduce that distract him from his original intention - even if a linear-structured text is available, which can be connected read from front to back. The seducibility of the reader is exploited by context-dependent online advertising: advertising banners , pop-ups , etc. attract some readers elsewhere.

Guidance

Mechanisms that are already used for print media can also be used in the hypermedia area, for example a table of contents , index or glossary , as well as footnotes or endnotes . Hypertext systems have their own navigation mechanisms, for example the forward and back buttons of current web browsers or the so-called breadcrumb navigation . However, these mechanisms must first be learned by the reader, which is made even more difficult by different implementation in different systems. Special orientation aids for hypertexts such as search functions, sitemap , bookmarks , history, tabbed browsing can at least alleviate the reader's lost -in-hyperspace dilemma. Successful navigation should provide answers to the questions: What is important? Where can I find relevant information? Where am I? What can I do here? Where am I from? Where can i go How do I get on, back again, out again?

Serendipity

Proponents of the hypertext paradigm also argue that when searching for certain information in a hypertext system, the reader often comes across additional, equally interesting information, which is not regarded as a concomitant phenomenon, but one of the desired forms of use. This accidental finding of information that one was not actually looking for is known as the serendipity effect. However, those who are used to reading through a text (corpus) of interest to them in one piece will hardly be satisfied with this view of things.

Since hypertext is a comparatively new form of information presentation, it can be assumed that both the quality of the programs used for its presentation and the acceptance of non-linear texts will improve over time.

See also

literature

  • J. Conklin: Hypertext: A survey and introduction . In: IEEE Computer , 20 (9), 1987, pp. 17-41
  • Deborah M. Edwards, Lynda Hardman: Lost in hyperspace: cognitive mapping and navigation in a hypertext environment . In: Ray McAleese (Ed.): Hypertext: theory into practice . Edinburgh 1999, pp. 90-105.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rainer Kuhlen , 1991