Designing Interactive Hypermedia Systems E-Book
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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
This book aims at exploring and illustrating the different ways in which hypermedia systems and tools are designed according to those aspects. The design and visualization schemes included in any system will be related to the variety of social and technical complexities confronted by researchers in social, communication, humanities, art and design.
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Seitenzahl: 352
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title
Copyright
Introduction
1 From Controversies to Decision-making: Between Argumentation and Digital Writing
1.1. Introduction
1.2. Hypertexts and hypermedia
1.3. From decision-making to the study of controversies
1.4. Detailed presentation of Vesta Cosy
1.5. What is the content of argument representations?
1.6. Application of Vesta Cosy to controversy analysis
1.7. New digital writings with hypermedia
1.8. Conclusion
1.9. Bibliography
2 Training in Digital Writing Through the Prism of Tropisms: Case Studies and Propositions
2.1. Abstract
2.2. Introduction
2.3. Issue: theoretical approach to digital technology
2.4. Proposition: tropisms of digital content
2.5. Detailed description of tropisms
2.6. Application: training in digital technology with tropisms
2.7. Case study: training in digital writing at IFCAM
2.8. Perspective: a MOOC “digital literacy” project
2.9. Conclusion and perspectives
2.10. Acknowledgments
2.11. Further reading
2.12. Bibliography
3 Assessing the Design of Hypermedia Interfaces: Differing Perspectives
3.1. Man–machine interaction
3.2. Mediated human activity
3.3. Meaningful systems
3.4. Three mediations: three ways of evaluating a design?
3.5. Bibliography
4 Experience Design: Explanation and Best Practices
4.1. Several problems identified with interface creation
4.2. What is good Experience Design?
4.3. How does Experience Design work?
4.4. A powerful approach
4.5. Example of XD contribution to an industrial project
4.6. How can we improve the quality of Experience Design in the ICT industries?
4.7. Conclusion
4.8. Bibliography
5 Designing Authoring Software Environments for the Interactive Arts: An Overview of Mobilizing.js
5.1. Research context: artistic practices of interactivity
5.2. Computer graphics, game engine, art engine?
5.3. Mobilizing.js: an attempt at a multi-paradigmatic authoring software environment
5.4. Structure and results of Mobilizing.js
5.5. Conclusion
5.6. Bibliography
6 Clues. Anomalies. Understanding. Detecting Underlying Assumptions and Expected Practices in the Digital Humanities through the AIME Project
6.1. Abstract
6.2. Introduction
6.3. AIME and its digital humanities set-up
6.4. Methodology: multiplying listening devices
6.5. Anomaly family #1: displacements in acknowledging on-and-offline practices ecosystem
6.6. Anomaly family #2: interface-driven methodology and its encounters with scholarly publics
6.7. Anomaly family #3: the shock of collaboration’s ethoses
6.8. Qualifying anomalies for a better understanding of Digital Humanities projects
6.9. Bibliography
List of Authors
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Figure I.1.
Diagram of authors and fields featured in chapters. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure I.2.
Diagram of authors and names of authors cited. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure I.3.
Keywords in this book organized in columns. Left to right: author name, issues, methods, tools (theoretical or practical) and usages. The size of the text corresponds to the number of occurrences of the word in the whole text. The vertical position of the words corresponds to their author. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
1 From Controversies to Decision-making: Between Argumentation and Digital Writing
Figure 1.1.
Display of model on controversy over shale gas and information record on an actor
Figure 1.2.
Illustration of the connection of different modules in Vesta Cosy
Figure 1.3.
Vesta Cosy mapping interface (plateau)
Figure 1.4.
Representation of the position of hypermedia in the design process of the argument model. For a colour version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 1.5.
Representation of hypermedia structure in the process of decision-making aid maps using Vesta Cosy
Figure 1.6.
Presentation of structuration in the representation of an argument
2 Training in Digital Writing Through the Prism of Tropisms: Case Studies and Propositions
Figure 2.1.
Summary representation of digital tropisms
Figure 2.2.
Example of the educational use of Etherpad at UTC [CA115]
Figure 2.3.
Example of the educational editorial string for “Abstraction“
Figure 2.4.
Example of “Abstraction” educational scenario
Figure 2.5.
Example of the educational editorial strings for “Staging” and “Hypertextualization” (reverse engineering to the left, publication to the right)
Figure 2.6.
Example of the educational editorial chain for “Transclusion” and “Interactivity”
Figure 2.7.
IFCAM scenario for the first session of the MOOC on digital writing. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 2.8.
Etherpad archiving interface as used at IFCAM. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 2.9.
Interactive map of the properties of digital technologies established using tropisms and functions. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
3 Assessing the Design of Hypermedia Interfaces: Differing Perspectives
Figure 3.1.
Virtual protocol model for Computer-Human Interaction [NIE 86]
Figure 3.2.
Seven stages in the execution of a task [NOR 86]
Figure 3.3.
Mediated human activity [BØD 87]
Figure 3.4.
Instrumented activity situations [RAB 95]
Figure 3.5.
Semiotic engineering communication model [DES 93]
Figure 3.6.
Semiocognitive interaction model [SCO 01]
Figure 3.7.
Design facilitates use
Figure 3.8.
Design assists user activity
4 Experience Design: Explanation and Best Practices
Figure 4.1.
The five possible levels in Experience Design for a company according to Sylvie Daumal [DAU 12] (left). Jakob Nielsen’s 10 levels of integration in the UX approach [NIE 01] (right)
Figure 4.2.
Evolution of foci in ICT ergonomics according to their level of usability [SER 16]
Figure 4.3.
Traditional ICTproject management (left). XD project management: a reorganization of the phases around the user in the same time constraints (right). For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 4.4.
A representation of the process of design in three steps and nine sub-steps (source: Paris-est D. School). For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 4.5.
Three examples of very simple prototypes: foam blocks to rethink a space, a post-it mock-up of a smart phone interface and role-play (source: Design thinking in a day, IDEO, 2014). For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 4.6.
“UX Design practice Verticals” official illustration produced by DSIA Research Initiative UX Design Practice Verticals v1.3.0, © 2011–2013 Nathaniel Davis | DSIA Research Initiative
Figure 4.7.
The Wide Angle Design Book [MAT 13]. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 4.8.
Public part of the site before classic project management. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 4.9.
Private part of the site before classic project management. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 4.10.
Private part of the site after XD project management. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 4.11.
Private part of the site after XD project management. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
5 Designing Authoring Software Environments for the Interactive Arts: An Overview of Mobilizing.js
Figure 5.1.
General diagram of the architecture of Mobilizing.js. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 5.2.
Diagram representing the possible cases of the runtime stream of Mobilizing.js user scripts
Figure 5.3.
Interaction interface on the Espace level. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 5.4.
For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
6 Clues. Anomalies. Understanding. Detecting Underlying Assumptions and Expected Practices in the Digital Humanities through the AIME Project
Figure 6.1.
AIME schematic table. In this poster the main features of the different instances of the project are shown to highlight their connection and interactions. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 6.2.
Count of the pages mentioning the different components and naming of the AIME projects. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 6.3.
Graph depicting the link between users (@) and hashtags (#) for the AIME project. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 6.4.
Graph depicting the link between users (@) and hashtags (#) for the AIME project. The nodes @aimeproject and #brunolatour have been removed to show how the network is organized around the events #. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 6.5.
Heatgraph depicting the relevance of the different # during the time of the project. The first five are present during all the time of the observation; all the others are clustered in specific moments. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 6.6.
Graph depicting the various names and adjectives used to address the digital platform of the AIME project. The graph is based on a set of web pages harvested with different search-engine queries. The nodes are connected when two words appear in the same description. The size is proportional to the overall mentions of a specific word
Figure 6.7.
Timelines depicting the number of contributions created per day (top chart), and the cumulative time spent by readers on the website (middle chart), in relation to the AIME events agenda preceding or following a peak in activity. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 6.8.
Timelines depicting, per day, the number of consultations of each of the four columns of the “book entry”. Namely: text column – featuring content of the printed instance, vocabulary column – acting as a glossary, documents column – featuring bibliographical references and media documents, and contributions column – featuring co-inquirers productions. These are compared with the project agenda of events. It can be seen a proportional rise in consultation of "contributions" as compared to "text" that correlates with AIME events. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure 6.9.
Alluvial diagram, based on the AIME Web platform database of users, depicting the correlation between contribution activity and bookmarking activity among the sub-set of co-inquirers who have used both of these functionalities. An important correlation between active bookmarking profiles and prolific contributors can be observed
Figure 6.10.
Alluvial diagram, based on AIME web platform database of users, depicting the correlation between contribution activity and bookmarking activity among the subset of co-inquirers that have used both of these functionalities. An important correlation between high bookmarking profiles and prolific contributors can be highlighted
Figure 6.11.
The life cycle of a contribution showing the mediation and review process. From a private edition, progressively and with the help of the AIME team, the submitted contribution reaches the “status” of being public and part of the AIME official documents
List of Tables
2 Training in Digital Writing Through the Prism of Tropisms: Case Studies and Propositions
Table 2.1.
Coding of “an x exists such that x is the immediate successor of y” (which means that every number has an immediate successor) [NAG 89, p. 73]
Table 2.2.
Proposed training program
3 Assessing the Design of Hypermedia Interfaces: Differing Perspectives
Table 3.1.
Criteria for describing editing regions [STO 05, p. 178]
4 Experience Design: Explanation and Best Practices
Table 4.1.
Jobs in UX Design [UNG 12]
Table 4.2.
Content of the WAD Book: the tabs and their respective roles
Table 4.3.
Cost-effectiveness of the project with and without Experience Design
Landmarks
Cover
Table of Contents
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Digital Tools and Uses Set
coordinated byImad Saleh
Volume 2
Designing Interactive Hypermedia Systems
Edited by
Everardo Reyes-Garcia
Nasreddine Bouhaï
First published 2017 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Ltd and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licenses issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address:
ISTE Ltd27-37 St George’s RoadLondon SW19 4EUUK
www.iste.co.uk
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.111 River StreetHoboken, NJ 07030USA
www.wiley.com
© ISTE Ltd 2017
The rights of Everardo Reyes-Garcia and Nasreddine Bouhaï to be identified as the authors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016956786
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78630-063-8
Introduction
The terms “hypertext“ and “hypermedia“ were introduced in scientific literature 51 years ago, in the description by the visionary computer engineer Ted Nelson of his Evolutionary List File (ELF) file structure. The main idea of the system was to make computers more user-friendly for personal and creative use. Nelson believed that information required an environment that was not only flexible but also able to support “idiosyncratic” arrangements that were modifiable and in a transitory state if final or definitive alternative organization methods had not been determined [NEL 65]. As we will see in this book, hypermedia systems are still very much a relevant and timely topic1. Different perspectives have evolved over the years, and we can identify schools of thought that have emerged (in the United States, France and the northern European countries, to cite a few examples2), but the main thing is that we continue to exploit (and have not yet exploited all of) the possibilities offered by these systems.
The study of hypermedia includes all of the problems, methods, tools, uses and ideologies associated with it. In the literature, these studies have addressed, at various points in time: man–machine interaction, documentation systems, digital literature and poetry, online teaching, new forms of media, the Web, social networks, and, most recently, digital humanities and the Internet of Things (IoT). This ubiquity and persistence can be explained by the fact that hypermedia systems are a specific type of software oriented toward linking digital information within a graphic environment.
Hypermedia systems are productions that exist onscreen, a property that raises questions having to do with display support. Unlike texts that are printed or engraved on solid surfaces, digital texts are represented in the form of two basic components – links and nodes – and their integration follows rules drawn from disciplinary fields of application. In other words, they require a structuring model in order for the linked information to be usable and understandable for users.
Together, nodes and links create a hypertextual structure. In the computer environment, the screen is the reference location within which the content of nodes and link relations is updated and refreshed. Additionally, the rhetoric of hypertexts tells us that meaning is given by the understanding of the structuring of ideas, and this understanding is attained not only by choices of navigation (from one node to another) but also by constant backtracking within the content itself (that is, within the structuring model). Therefore, the problem is one of having reference points in the structure, much like section and chapter titles, footnotes and numbering are used in printed texts, but this time for electronic formats.
Historically, we can differentiate between two interdependent axes in hypermedia research: systems and models. The former refers to the technical and engineering aspects of software (data architectures, formats and structures). From this point of view, the technical evolution of systems is often perceived as going from monolithic hypermedia (in which the components are located in a single place) to open systems by means of the abstraction of services (in which functionalities and content of information can exist as independent blocs and on demand).
The second axis focuses on navigation models, types of structures, ergonomics and cognitive problems. With regard to navigation models, we have a repertoire and vocabulary of hypertextual structural models. Petersen [PET 11] summarizes five of these:
– associative structures: used to associate pieces of information (nodes) in an arbitrary fashion (with links);
– spatial structures: their use is based on visual attributes (such as colors, shapes, dimensions and positions in space) representing relationships;
– taxonomic structures: support multiple tasks of categorization. Relationships are represented by inclusion and exclusion rather than by association;
– argumentative or problem-based structures: used to “type” entities (nodes or links) according to the problems being discussed, positions with regard to these problems and the evidence supporting or refuting these positions;
– annotation and metadata structures: can be used to add comments or descriptive information to entities or to the overall information structure.
These models are used in various domains supporting aid with decision-making above all else; however, it is also possible to use and detect hypertextual structures in an artistic context. The well-known term “ergodic literature” [AAR 97], for example, looks at systems from the perspective of the work done by a reader to find his way in the text. This work can not only be composed of a traditional reading process, but may also begin with a corpus in which everything is linked; these links are then progressively deleted until a satisfactory point is reached (what Bernstein calls “structural hypertexts”), or it may be done via “fractal narratives”, suggesting that two adjacent nodes can be amplified by adding a third node between them and replicating the process recursively [HAR 12]. The term “strange hypertexts” is generally used to evoke the need for exotic tools in the search for new alternative spaces [BER 01].
As we have emphasized, these models are implemented and represented in graphic form onscreen. Let us go back to Ted Nelson. While his ELF system was at a general level, almost like an operating or middleware system encompassing multiple existing services and file formats on a machine (texts, images, videos, sounds), other systems have since appeared with a more specific motivation or vocation: NLS by Douglas Engelbart, HyperCard by Apple, Director by Macromedia, Xanadu by the same Ted Nelson, Hyperties by Ben Schneiderman, and Storyspace and Tinderbox by Eastgate Systems3.
More recently, with the arrival of the Web, browsers have become the preferred development platform for experimenting with, adapting and implementing hypermedia functionalities. Let us clarify here that the “Web” is not synonymous with the Internet, or with a hypermedia system. The Web is a medium of information and communication that uses networked technologies (such as the HTTP protocol) to access information distributed (and localized by URLs) in a specific format (HTML language). During its 25 years of existence, the Web has become the most widespread and omnipresent medium in the world; however, its technical capabilities remain limited compared to those of a robust hypermedia system. Moreover, its “media language”4 has undergone an evolution that can be characterized by the logic of “remediatization” [BOL 00], meaning that most of its modes of functioning and representation have been inspired by existing mass media (books, television, film and radio).
At the present time, we believe conditions are favorable for a new wave of hypermedia systems. First, this is because the technical possibilities of the Web have expanded (with innovations such as SVG, WebGL, WebRTC and Web Audio API), while retaining the same technical basis (the trinomial of HTML, CSS and JavaScript), which has helped to develop a Web culture with a stable base.
Second, the Web continues to maintain its free and open aspect, supported by communities of developers (professional, scientific, artistic and amateur) who share their computer codes, create libraries, and publish manuals and tutorials. This is a collective intelligence, a participative ecology that is self-regulated and based on respect for practices.
Third, the Web is able to communicate with other technical objects (software, physical interfaces, everyday personal devices) as well as with organic ones (the living world). The development of hypermedia systems makes it necessary to think beyond the screen and to consider the cognitive and perceptive aspects, spatiotemporal contexts, preservation and social consequences of these systems.
Finally, human and social sciences, in turning to digital technologies, have been completely turned on their ear. Computer environments are no longer just tools to process and analyze data obtained using quantitative and qualitative methods; they have themselves become objects of study. To give an example, think about software studies, digital studies and digital methods. Software studies examine the way in which software influences culture, as well as the power relationships between systems, designers and humans [FUL 08]. Digital studies emphasize the types of exchange, production and work created by new information technologies [STI 14]. Digital methods use the characteristic elements of the Web (links, sites, engines and social networks) as a footprint and a resource for the study of social culture [ROG 13]. In short, these perspectives can be associated with that of digital humanities [BER 12], in which the central focus becomes the uncertain, polysemous, and permanently transitory nature of interpretations, functions and representations of digital technologies.
This book belongs to that context. It is more than a technical analysis of the implementation of algorithms or development environments; rather, it offers the reader a group of texts in which the authors of these systems themselves show the complexity of the factors behind the design, implementation and maintenance of tools. Through these reflections, we address questions which put not only the “user” at the heart of systems, but also society, modern concerns, scientific disciplines and culture. In other words, studying hypermedia via the design of tools and functionalities is another way of understanding modern and future man.
Authors and chapters
The texts which form this book have been selected for their richness, originality and scientific rigor. They all share the characteristic of addressing hypermedia systems from a theoretical and practical perspective. The authors of these texts [CRO 15, CUN 14, DEM 15, DES 15, LAI 15, LAT 12, LEC 11, MAT 14, RIC 15] have participated in, conducted, developed and/or tested their own tools and methods. These hypermedia systems are also featured in doctoral theses and research which have public or private financial support.
In the next few pages, instead of introducing each chapter traditionally, we will offer readers three diagrams that graphically show the relationships between the texts. Figures I.1 and I.2 are network diagrams of the authors and their bibliographical references. We have grouped the nodes into four categories: chapter author, cited author, co-author (of the chapter or the cited author) and subject (field of study according to the university documentation system5). The idea of the diagram is to get an overall view of the book from its metatexts; that is, texts that refer to other texts. In these figures, we can see nodes that play the implicit role of “bridge” between other nodes. We can also see links (and the complexity generated by them), which are the same color as their starting node. If readers identify an author or discipline familiar to them, they can then more easily find the chapter in which this author or discipline is cited.
Figure I.1.Diagram of authors and fields featured in chapters. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
Figure I.2.Diagram of authors and names of authors cited. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
The third diagram, Figure I.3, offers a graphic depiction of the relationships between the keywords in the texts and the authors who write about them. To produce it, we first analyzed all of the texts using the lexicometric tool of word frequency. Each word is weighted according to the number of repetitions (in a chapter and in the entire book). This quantification can be done in a basic way with software platforms such as Wordle and Voyant, but other, more complex analyses can be carried out with topic modeling tools such as Mallet. After the qualifications, we grouped the words most frequently used, bearing in mind that the total number of words contained in this book is around 57,000 (320 thousand symbols). The color code used in the figure is as follows: red for “general issues”, blue for “methods” used by the authors, green for “theoretical and/or practical tools” they use and yellow for “usages” in which the issue plays a role. In a way, the columns can be read as follows: The [author] addresses the [issue(s)] from the perspective of the [method(s)] using the [tool(s)] in the context of the [usage(s)].
Figure I.3.Keywords in this book organized in columns. Left to right: author name, issues, methods, tools (theoretical or practical) and usages. The size of the text corresponds to the number of occurrences of the word in the whole text. The vertical position of the words corresponds to their author. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/reyes/hypermedia.zip
We hope that these images will help readers to track relationships between the bibliography, problems, methods, tools and usages of hypermedia systems as they have been addressed by the authors in this book. The final interpretation remains the responsibility of the readers, of course, and the idea is that they will be able to complete, update, modify and question it on an ongoing basis.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Imad Saleh, director of the Laboratoire Paragraphe at the University of Paris 8, for his encouragement and advice during the writing of this book. We are also grateful to the authors who accepted our invitation to enrich this book with their research and reflections.
Bibliography
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[ANG 15] ANGÉ C. (ed.), Les objets hypertextuels, ISTE Editions, London, 2015.
[BER 01] BERNSTEIN M., “Card shark and thespis: exotic tools for hypertext narrative”, Proceedings of the 12th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia (HT’01), New York, pp. 41–50, 2001.
[BER 09] BERNSTEIN M., GRECO D. (ed.), Reading Hypertext, Eastgate Systems, Watertown, 2009.
[BER 12] BERRY D., Understanding Digital Humanities, Palgrave, New York, 2012. [BOL 00] BOLTER J., Remediation: Understanding New Media, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2000.
[CRO 15] CROZAT S. “Les tropisms du numérique”, in SALEH I. et al. (eds) H2PTM’15, ISTE Editions, London, 2015.
[CUN 14] CUNIN D., Pratiques artistiques sur les écrans mobiles: création d’un langage de programmation, Doctoral Thesis, University of Paris 8, 2014.
[DEM 15] DE MOURAT R., OCNARESCU I., RENON A.L. et al., “Méthodologies de recherche et design: un instantané des pratiques de recherche employées au sein d’un réseau de jeunes chercheurs”, Sciences du Design, 1.1, PUF, Paris, 2015.
[DES 15] DESFRICHES O., FAGOT C., “Visualisation d’information à base de modèles pour l’argumentation”, in SALEH I. et al. (eds), H2PTM’15, ISTE Editions, London, 2015.
[FUL 08] FULLER M. (ed.), Software Studies: A Lexicon, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2008.
[HAR 12] HARGOOD C., MILLARD D., DAVIS R., “Exploring (the poetics of) strange (and fractal) hypertexts”, Proceedings of the 23th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia (HT’12), New York, pp. 181–186, 2001.
[LAI 15] LAITANO M.I., Le modèle trifocal: une approche communicationnelle des interfaces numériques: Contributions à la conception d’interfaces accessibles, Doctoral Thesis, University of Paris 8, 2015.
[LAN 06] LANDOW G., Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2006.
[LAT 12] LATOUR B.,Enquête sur les modes d’existence: une anthropologie des Modernes, La Découverte, 2012.
[LEC 11] LECLERCQ C., GIRARD P., “The experiments in art and technology digital archive”, Rewire: 4th International Conference on the Histories of Media Art, Science and Technology, Liverpool, available at: http://inha.revues.org/4926, September 2011.
[MAN 13] MANOVICH L., Software Takes Command, Bloomsbury, London, 2013.
[MAT 14] MATTÉ-GANET L., “Pourquoi l’UX Design va s’éteindre en France, heureusement pour nous”, Conférence FLUPA UX-Day 2014, available at: http://tinyurl.com/matte-ganet-ux2014, Paris, 2014.
[NEL 65] NELSON T., “A file structure for the complex”, ACM 20th National Conference, New York, pp. 84–100, 1965.
[PET 11] PETERSEN P., WIIL U., “Hypertext structures for investigative teams”, Proceedings of the 22nd ACM Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia (HT’11), New York, pp. 123–132, 2011.
[RIC 15] RICCI D., “Clues. Anomalies. Understanding. Detecting underlying assumptions and expected practices in the digital humanities through the AIME project”, Visible Language, available at: http://bit.ly/dhanomalies, vol. 49, no. 3, 2015.
[ROG 13] ROGERS R., Digital Methods, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2013.
[SAL 05] SALEH I. (ed.), Les hypermédias: conception et réalisation, Hermès Science-Lavoisier, Paris, 2005.
[STI 14] STIEGLER B. (ed.), Digital studies: organologie des savoirs et technologies de la connaissance, Fyp Paris, 2014.
[WAR 03] WARDRIP-FRUIN N., MONTFORT N. (ed.), The New Media Reader, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2003.
1
Readers can get a more complete idea of recent issues via the actions of two pioneering international conferences in the field, which continue to exist: HT, by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), launched in 1987 in North Carolina, and H2PTM, organized by the Laboratoire Paragraphe of the Université Paris 8, first held in Paris in 1989.
2
The main contributors, to name just a few, are George Landow [LAN 06], Jay Bolter, Michael Joyce, Mark Bernstein and Stuart Moulthrop in the United States; Jean-Pierre Balpe, Imad Saleh, Jean Clément, Marc Nanard and Sylvie Leleu-Merviel in France, and Uffe Wiil, Peter Nürnberg and Espen Aarseth in northern Europe. We also cite the edited volumes [WAR 03], [SAL 05], [BER 09] and [ANG 15].
3
Tinderbox and Storyspace, developed by Eastgate Systems, are still maintained for new versions of OS X:
http://www.eastgate.com/
4
To paraphrase an idea put forth by [MAN 13]. The language of a medium is related to “the ways in which this organizes media data and access to and modification of this data” (p. 169).
5
http://www.sudoc.abes.fr/
Introduction written by Everardo REYES-GARCIA.
1From Controversies to Decision-making: Between Argumentation and Digital Writing
1.1. Introduction
As part of the Vesta Cosy research project (Vers un ESpace Tactile d’Argumentation, COllaboratif et Symbolique, or Toward a Tactile, Collaborative, and Symbolic Argumentation Space), financed by the DGA (Direction Générale de l’Armement), we work in collaboration with the companies Intactile Design and Syllabs on methodological and conceptual principles and a computer application for symbolic mapping to be used in the visualization and analysis of complex systems, based on knowledge models in the field. One of Vesta Cosy’s major applications is in the area of decision-making. In this context, the objective of the application is to provide people involved in the analysis and simulation of these complex situations with a space that will allow them to focus exclusively on their decision-making issue. In this chapter, we will offer a reflexive analysis of the benefits for the tool design process of comparing two fields of experimentation: decision-making and controversy analysis. We will begin by discussing traditional hypermedia approaches, and then examine decision-making and controversy analysis as well as possible connections between the two. Next, we will give a brief report on current methods and tools used in controversy representation, followed by a detailed introduction to Vesta Cosy. Reflections on argument representation that have emerged during the course of the project will be discussed, as will the theoretical context used regarding argumentation, which we will use to examine the issues involved in rethinking hypermedia design. We will then describe the general methodology we use in controversy analysis and which we developed during the project. Finally, an original approach to new digital writings is given, which will benefit from these reflections on argumentation and the work carried out during the Vesta Cosy co-design process.
1.2. Hypertexts and hypermedia
The idea of hypermedia was preceded historically by the invention of the concept of hypertext, which, according to Rhéaume [RHÉ 93], dates from the 1940s, when Vannevar Bush designed MEMEX, which was intended to function on the model of human thought and seen as associative. The term “hypermedia”, which appeared subsequent to “hypertext”, initially had mainly to do with learning environments and innovative teaching methods. These environments function on the same principle as hypertext, that of nonlinear and non-sequential navigation between the elements of an item or items of content, but, in the case of hypermedia, this content also includes images, videos, graphics, audio and animations.
In 1998, Tricot and Nanard [TRI 98] proposed an inventory of hypermedia categories: “applications dedicated to learning (EAO), to information extraction (SGBD), to the exchange of information (Internet), the provision of information (interactive terminals), and assistance with writing (…), planning, or the study of documents (…). The only commonality shared among all these systems is that they support a usage or alternate activities of selection, comprehension, and evaluation”.
What are the characteristics of these hypermedia systems in terms of functioning?
According to Rhéaume [RHÉ 93], the node is the minimum unit of information in a hypertext, and the multiple nodes in a sequence are connected to one another by links. A node is intended to correspond to an idea or concept, also called a “chunk” according to cognitive approaches. Thus, a node can correspond to a textual fragment or to an image, graphic or video clip.
Links can be referential (a link establishes a relationship between a node and a reference element that is inscribed in a recipient node, such as a bibliographical reference, for example) or organizational. They therefore involve hierarchization, a direction of reading between two nodes [RHÉ 93].
The most widely recognized flaws in this type of structure are information fragmentation and the loss of overall vision, which can disorient the user, and cognitive overload, which can make it necessary to remember the path taken between the nodes in the hypermedia network.
The view given up to this point has to do with the function initially defined by the principle of hypertext and applied to different types of information simultaneously in hypermedia. However, technologies and the Web have been developed, resulting in an increase in power of today’s massive use of hypertext on the Web, and also accompanied by the emergence of new principles of interaction with tactile or sound interfaces, for example. We believe that the view presented above of hypermedia design can be revisited not only through the lens of application principles such as Vesta Cosy, but also in terms of the design of hypernarrativity and digital writing. We will return to this subject in section 7. The following sections will introduce the areas of experimentation that have accompanied the development of the Vesta Cosy tool, and then we will discuss the functioning of the tool in detail.
1.3. From decision-making to the study of controversies
1.3.1. Definition of the concept of controversy
According to C. Lemieux [LEM 07], conflicts that are presented as controversies have a triadic structure: “they refer to situations in which a dispute between two parties is conducted in the presence of a public third party which is thus placed in the position of judge”. Lemieux also characterizes controversies by the symmetry of principle applied to the parties with regard to their right to put forth their arguments. Next, he emphasizes the role of the organizational and media device of debate, which imposes constraints on the attitudes and argumentations of the actors, on the one hand, and determines the “degree of confinement” of exchanges, which must itself shift from a private conflict to a controversy and then to an institutional crisis according to a continuum, on the other. The gradation of this degree of confinement is connected to the insertion into the conflict of actors with varying degrees of expertise. Thus, according to Lemieux’s analysis [LEM 07], if non-specialist actors, as is the case in our area of experimentation, come to participate in the debate, this debate will slide toward institutional crisis. This definition of controversy evokes questions of the legitimacy of lay actors and their power of action and argumentation in the context of a controversy.
1.3.2. Shifts from one situation to another
The shift from a decision-making scenario to a controversy-representation scenario can present certain difficulties of understanding at first glance.
One of the aims of this chapter is to study how shifts from one situation to another (decision-making to controversy representation, and vice versa) have allowed us to move forward in the process of designing the Vesta Cosy tool, which is considered to be representative of a new generation of hypermedia, and to discuss the residual design difficulties that remain.
First, it is clear that these two distinct situations show certain similarities. Decision-making situations put the decision makers in a position of comparing possibly divergent views of the conduct and actions to be taken. Their search for a consensus takes place through the exchange of arguments that may take their legitimacy of authority from actors. We believe that controversies and debates constitute an especially rich ground for observing exchanges of arguments, and that questions having to do with the legitimacy of the actors in these processes are vital in the power plays and arguments that take place on these occasions. Additionally, the approach to argumentation put forth by Chateauraynaud [CHA 07] and focused on the study of the transformations caused by the device of public debate examines the way in which actors are involved in debates, as well as the influence of context of utterance on the presentation and reception of an argument. This conception of the study of argumentation appears to us to be linked to the contextualization of arguments.
With regard to systems intended to aid in decision-making and the contextualization of arguments, we suggest, like Lipshitz and Strauss [LIP 97], that expert decision-making support systems are guided and limited by underlying conceptions of decision-making. Likewise, a controversy-representation device contains a conception of controversy, as well as a definition of the objectives of this representation.
These authors show that the definition of uncertainty is subjective, and also that it depends on the decision model used. Weick’s approach [WEI 79], which concedes that multiple meanings may be imposed on a situation, goes in the same direction.
Additionally, the theory of mental models “is based on a hypothesis first formulated in 1943 by the Scottish psychologist Kenneth Craik: in order to understand and anticipate reality, the human mind will create miniature mental representations of it that enable this mind to simulate its functioning” [THE 09]. In this “mental models” approach, Legrenzi and Girotto [LEG 96] show that decision-making is more difficult when a situation is represented with multiple options. In controversy, the definition of risks and uncertainties is composed of subjective elements, and thus constitutes a preferred entry point.
Finally, we believe the decision-making approaches proposed by Klein and Klinger [KLE 91, KLE 93] are also pertinent, particularly because they emphasize the context of decision-making in terms of pressure, urgency and the possibility of having to decide in situations where goals are poorly defined, with objectives that may evolve and change.
1.3.3. Controversy representation
There are several approaches, according to Lemieux [LEM 07], that may be taken to the analysis and representation of controversies: a classic controversy approach which acts “to reveal” sociohistoric reality, and an approach initiated by science studies, which considers controversies as “sui generis phenomena” that enable the study of the transformations they produce in the social world.
