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Subject:Re: Is Hypertext More Productive? From:Legislative Serv Ctr <amurphy -at- WLN -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 24 Mar 1994 08:12:50 -800
Saul--
Another interesting question, with numerous kinds of answers.
As you've seen in the literature, lots of people are breathlessly
excited about hypertext but not always concerned about objective
data. The more impartial observers certainly hedge their remarks
about the *automatic* superiority of one medium over another.
I'd talk with neutral usability testers like Ginny Redish, Phil
Rubens, Judy Ramey (U. of WA), Patricia Sullivan (Purdue), and
Mary Dieli (Microsoft's usability manager).
Here's a short list of more likely articles culled from several
hundred addressing the topic. You've probably skimmed
through the books and proceedings--the stuff listed here is more
fugitive and harder to track.
Barfield Woodrow, Mark Haselkorn, Catherine Westbrook;
Information Retrieval with a Printed User's Manual and with
Online Hypercard Help; Technical Communication; 37.1 Feb.
1990 22-27
Boyle Craig and Kelly Ratliff; A Survey and Classification of
Hypertext Documentation Systems; IEEE Tr. on Prof. Comm.;
35.2 June 1992 98-111
Brooks Randy M.; Principles for Effective Hypermedia Design;
Technical Communication; 40.3 Aug. 1993 422-28
Girill T. R. and Clement H. Luk; Hierarchical Search Support
for Hypertext On-line Documentation; Intl. J. of Man-Machine
Studs.; 36.4 Ap. 1992 571-85
Grice Roger A. and Lenore S. Ridgway; Usability and
Hypermedia: Toward a Set of Usability Criteria and Measures;
Technical Communication; 40.3 Aug. 1993 429-37
Horton William; Is Hypertext the Best Way to Document Your
Product?; Technical Communication; 38.1 Feb. 1991 20-32, 35
Humphreys Donald S.; Making Your Hypertext Interface Usable;
Technical Communication; 40.4 Nov. 1993 754-61
Isakson Carol S. and Jan H. Spyridakis; The Comprehensibility
of Linear versus Nonlinear Documents (in Technical
Communication's Toolbox Proceedings); STC Region 7; 3 1990
107-11
Maurer Hermann and Ivan Tomek; Broadening the Scope of
Hypermedia Principles; Hypermedia; 2.3 1990 201-20
Nelson Bruce C. and Thomas J. Smith; User Interaction with
Maintenance Info. ... Hypertext Versus Hard Copy Formats;
Proc. of the Human Factors Soc.; 34 1990 1.229-33
Nielsen Jakob; The Art of Navigating Through Hypertext;
Comms. of the ACM; 33.3 Mar. 1990 296-310
Rada Roy and Clare Murphy; Searching Versus Browsing in
Hypertext; Hypermedia; 4.1 1992 1-30
Rockley Ann; Creating Online Documentation with the Aid of
Hypertext; Intercom; 38.3 Oct. 1992 8-9
Rubens Philip; Reading and Employing Tech. Info. in Hypertext;
Technical Communication; 38.1 Feb. 1991 36-40
Yours in cyberspace,
Avon Murphy
WA Legislative Service Center
2404 Chandler Court SW
Olympia, WA 98502
206-786-7052
amurphy -at- wln -dot- com
On Thu, 24 Mar 1994 MSTSACX -at- GSUVM1 -dot- BITNET wrote:
> Does anyone have conclusive research indicating that hypertext is more
> productive to use than paper documents?
> A literature search is turning up dry.
> Thanks!
> cc: 71702.1>--compuse>
> "
> Saul Carliner Ph.D. Student
> Instructional Technology Geo. State Univ.
> Note new userid----> mstsacx -at- gsuvm1 -dot- gsu -dot- edu 404/892-3945
