From: olson@mydual.uucp (Kirtland H. Olson)
Subject: Print and Thought in Hypertext
Reply-To: olson%mydual.uucp@alliant.com
Organization: The Harvard Group, 01451-0667
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 12:54:37 GMT

Here are some off-the-beaten-track references for people interested in
hypertext.  

First, some printed hypertexts done between 1979 & 1984.  Bantam Books
produced a series called "Choose Your Own Adventure" that had 15 titles
in 1980, and 38 titles by 1984.  A corresponding series for younger
readers reached 22 titles by 1984.

I picked up two of these at a garage sale, and sketched a diagram of the
text links for one.  I am convinced from the diagram that this is truly
hypertext, not just a decision tree.  I base this on the fact that the
one I diagrammed has 27 possible endings and the stories traverse the
same node at differing points.  ISBN 0-553-23182-0 is the one I traced.

Authors in the series include Edward Packard, R. A. Montgomery,  D. Terman,
& Jay Leibold.  These may give some insight into ways that an author
makes a node independent of the allowed entry paths.  

Second, a pointer to an older book that approached chains of reasoning
for AI, and might be worth skimming for quick insights.  Refer to
"Scripts, Plans, Goals, and Understanding" by Roger Schank and Robert
Abelson, ISBN 0-470-99033-3 (1977).

From that book, I find this useful:  "A very simple causal syntax exists
in natural thought, a syntax that can be violated in natural language
expression.  In the reconstruction of the thought that underlies the
utterance, the causal syntax must be rigidly obeyed." (Page 24)

And finally, a snippet of Piaget's work as reported in "Understanding
Piaget," ISBN 0-06-013454-2, Revised Ed. 1980, Pages 60-61.  "In one
experiment in this series, Piaget and his co-worker Inhelder presented their
subjects with a variety of geometric figures, some made of wood and some of
plastic.  Moreover, objects of the same shape came in different colors:
there were red and blue squares as well as circles.  The children were
asked to put together the objects that were alike.  They might group
them on the basis of shape, or color, or material, or even angularity as
opposed to roundness.

"The results showed that the youngest children tended to form what
Piaget called graphic collections.  The objects were sorted on some
basis of similarity, but the bases tended to change as a child
proceeded.  For example, he might make a row of four squares, the last
two of which were red.  Then, as if the redness took precedence over the
shape, he might add red circles or red triangles.  Some children made
simple designs, others more complex mosaics; in other words, the sorting
was based not on logical classes but on perceptual attributes."  

Since the minds of children are less disguised and less trained than
those of adults, I think they act more naturally.  If the natural bent
is to move among perceived similarities, I suggest that linking a
hypertext should provide similar possibilities and further that lost in
hyperspace may be a trained incapacity of persons who understand logical
classes (and may be trained to think them "better").




-- 
Kirtland H. Olson                     olson%mydual.uucp@alliant.com
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