Untitled - witz cultural

28HYPERTEXT 3.0 but simply wish to place their fundamentally different approach to computing"on a par with navigation systems" (97).Ntrnberg, Leggett, and Schneider point to VIKI, a system developed byCatherine C. Marshall and Frank M. Shipman III, as an example of spatialhypertext. As Marshall and Shipman explain, VIKI, which functions as a conceptualorganizer, "provides users with visual and spatial affordances for organizingandinterpreting information" ("Information Triage," 125). "spatialhypertext," they explain elsewhere, "has its origins in browser-based approachesin which the emerging hypertext network is portrayed graphically,in an overview . . . In browser-based hypertext, boxes generally symbolizenodes; lines represent the links among them. In a completely spatial viewof hypertext, the lines-links-maybe removed from the picture, and thenodes may move about freely against their spatial backdrop" ("Spatial Hypertext,"online version). Systems like VIKI rely on our "spatial intelligence,"using graphic interfaces to organize complex ideas. Boxlike icons, which maycontain text, represent concepts, and users can arrange these boxes and nestone inside another to explore or express their relationship. The Storyspaceview, which functions in this manner, exemplifies one feature of spatial hypertext,but to this VIKI adds "stmcture finding algorithms that analyze thespatial layout and the visually salient properties of the information objects,"so that authors do not have to construct explicit structures themselves. Manydiscussions of spatial hypertext so emphasize conceptual structures thattheymake it seem purely an organizational tool, but Marshall and Shipman be-Iieve that both readers and writers can benefit from it "For readers, the systemprovides an opporhrnity to read in context, with awareness ofthe related,nearby nodes." For writers, it supports exploring various conceptual structures.For both, the graphic display of manipulatable information hierarchies"helps keep complexity tractable" ("Spatial Hypertext," online version).Niirnberg, Leggett, and Schneider's definition of the concept makes mesuspect that what they term spatialhyperte.rt has little to do with hypertert andhypermedia, though it certainly represents an important area of researchin computer science. In contrast, Marshall and Shipman's description of agraphic overview in which one can hide the lines representing links (whichone can do in Storyspace) suggests that such spatial display of informationdoes play a role in specific hypertext systems, though I don't know if by itselfthat feature constitutes a form of hypermedia. Graphic sitemaps, such as TheVictoian Web's opening screen, the Storyspace view, and Eastgate Systems sTinderbox all exemplify graphic presentation of conceptual structures, butthey dont have VIKI's ability to analyze and represent such structrres com-