English_topic_1_kurs / hypermedia.doc

Hypermedia

Hypermedia, in computer science, the integration of graphics, sound, video, and animation into documents or files that are linked in an associative system of information storage and retrieval. Hypermedia files contain cross references called hyperlinks that connect to other files with related information, allowing users to easily move, or navigate, from one document to another through these associations.

Hypermedia is structured around the idea of offering a working and learning environment that parallels human thinking—that is, an environment that allows the user to make associations between topics rather than move sequentially from one to the next, as in an alphabetical list. Hypermedia topics are thus linked in a manner that allows the user to jump from subject to related subject in searching for information. For example, a hypermedia presentation on navigation might include links to such topics as astronomy, bird migration, geography, satellites, and radar. If the information is primarily in text form, the document or file is called hypertext. If video, music, animation, or other elements are included, the document is called a hypermedia document.

The World Wide Web (WWW) is a well-known hypermedia environment that users can access through the Internet. Other forms of hypermedia applications include CD-ROM encyclopedias and games. To view hypermedia documents, a user’s computer must have hardware and software that support multimedia. This usually consists of sound and video cards, speakers, and a graphical operating system such as Windows 95 or the Apple operating system. To view hypermedia documents on the Internet, a program called a browser is necessary. Browsers provide varying levels of support for the graphics, sound and video available on the Internet. Examples of browsers are Netscape, Internet Explorer, and Mosaic.

A wide variety of computer programs are used to create different media applications on the WWW. To run these applications, a browser must be supplemented by programs called plug-ins. Plug-ins are tools that allow a computer to display or interpret the various file formats in which multimedia files exist. Plug-ins are usually available for free and can be downloaded to and stored on a computer’s hard drive.

The number of people experiencing hypermedia is growing rapidly as a result of increased exposure to the WWW, better computer and modem performance, and increases in data transmission rates.