Tools and strategies for searching in hypermedia environments
Abstract This paper presents the results of several investigations into the use made by students of a prototype system of help for the exploitation of hypermedia documents. This prototype was derived from a common type of educational CD-ROM in which the presentation of the contents was improved and certain research and note-taking tools added. The evolving, personalised note-taking system interacts constantly with the environment being explored. Beyond the storage of personal notes (clues, personal knowledge of the area), it allows the student to keep the explored sections in mind and ultimately to plan further explorations. It also enables the extraction and structuring of the data retrieved from the body of the database. The role of this system is to facilitate more thorough searches for information which might sometimes require several sessions stretched out over a long period. It could be profitably used in the context of independent student activities.
hypermedia cd-rom empirical guided discovery navigation secondary