Object-oriented hypermedia support systems

The autors explore the integration of three software technologies, hyper-navigational user control, multimedia, and object-orientation, to develop more responsive support systems. The merger of these technologies gives rise to a visionary hybrid system type referred to as hypermedia support systems (HSSs). HSSs promote higher levels of understanding because users can interact with rich data types-video, audio, text, and graphics-and approach information from different points of view. Hyper-navigation parallels the associative memory model proposed by cognitive psychologists to represent the human thinking process. As such, hyper-navigation gives users the ability to access information in an intuitive and flexible manner, thereby supporting even unstructured problem solving. Incorporating multimedia technology further increases responsiveness by combining different media elements for display and control from a PC. An object-oriented approach coupled with special objects called software topics provides an integrating mechanism for HSSs