Identifying Aggregates in Hypertext Structures
Identifying Aggregates in Hypertext Structures
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Date
1998-10-15
Authors
Botafogo, Rodrigo A.
Shneiderman, Ben
Advisor
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Abstract
Hypertext systems are being used in many applications because of their
flexible structure and the great browsing freedom they give to diverse
communities of users. However, this same freedom and flexibility is the
cause of one of its main problem: the lost in hyperspace problem. One
reason for the complexity of hypertext databases is the large
number of nodes and links that compose them. To simplify this structure
we propose that nodes and links be clustered forming more abstract
structures. An abstraction is the concealment of all but relevant
properties from an object or concept.
One type of abstraction is called an aggregate. An aggregate is a set
of distinct concepts that taken together form a more abstract concept.
For example, two legs, a trunk, two arms and a head can be aggregate
together in a single higher level object called a body. In this
paper we will study the hypertext structure, i.e., the way nodes are
linked to each other in order to find aggregates in hypertext
databases. Two graph theoretical algorithms will be
used: biconnected components and strongly connected components.
(Also cross-referenced as CAR-TR-550)