Towards a structural diversity space

  • Authors:

  • David L. Hicks;Uffe Kock Wiil;Peter J. Nürnberg

  • Affiliations:

  • Aalborg University Esbjerg, Esbjerg, Denmark;Aalborg University Esbjerg, Esbjerg, Denmark;Aalborg University Esbjerg, Esbjerg, Denmark

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the fifteenth ACM conference on Hypertext and hypermedia
  • Year:
  • 2004

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Abstract

One of the most visible and significant effects of the introduction and use of hypermedia technology has been to substantially increase the variety of structures available in computing environments. As research in the hypermedia field has progressed, the pace at which structure evolves has increased. While the rise in diversity of hypermedia structure has generally been regarded as a positive development, as with many phenomena, it is important to examine structural diversity carefully to avoid the problems that excessive diversity can bring, and to ensure the complete spectrum of potentially beneficial forms of diversity is considered.This paper introduces a diversity space that can serve as an important tool in the study of structural diversity in hypermedia. The purposes of the diversity space are manifold including: to serve as a description space in which the structural diversity of a specific computing environment can be completely and concisely described, to highlight and assist in reconciling differences in structural diversity between computing environments, and to serve as a useful design space in which important diversity related decisions can be considered. To demonstrate the usage of the diversity space, it is first used as a tool to examine the way in which structural diversity developed within the hypermedia field. It is then used to characterize and consider the levels of structural diversity found in the class of computing environments that currently exhibit the highest levels of structural diversity: structural computing systems.