Re: Is Hypertext More Productive?

[Mike Pope <mikep -at- ASYMETRIX -dot- COM>]

It seems to me that the question is a slightly loaded one anyway, akin to
the question "which is better, the keyboard or the mouse"? Much has to do
with the, um, test subject's personal preference and style of information
retrieval. Part of the challenge in tech writing is in attempting to
accommodate as many styles of learning as possible within the constraints of
what one can ship.

Another problem with is this: can you compare book and hypertext without
judging their quality? If you compare a brilliantly- written and
well-organized book to a mediocre hypertext system, and you then find that
people tend to gravitate to the book, what have you learned? For that
matter, what *is* a "well-written hypertext system"? I've certainly seen a
number of online Help systems that made we want to throttle the person who
neglected to add (or index) the factoid that I needed at that instant.

Mike Pope
Asymetrix
(206) 637-5844
mikep -at- asymetrix -dot- com, 71542 -dot- 631 -at- compuserve -dot- com

 ----------
>From: TECHWR-L
>To: Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L
>Subject: Re: Is Hypertext More Productive?
>Date: Thursday, March 24, 1994 8:12AM

>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