Abstract: Hypertext can be simply defined as the creation and representation of links between discrete pieces of data. When this data can be graphics, or sound, as well as text or numbers, the resulting structure is referred to as hypermedia. The strengths of hypermedia arise from its flexibility in storing and retrieving knowledge. Any piece of information, whether it be text, graphics, sound, numerical data, etc., can be linked to any other piece of information. In many ways, the problems of hypermedia stem from the very flexibility that is its chief advantage and justification. It is difficult to maintain a sense of where things are in a relatively unstructured network of information. While the associative nature of hypermedia increases the availability of large amounts of diverse information, this very diversity makes it easy for information and users to get lost. Hypermedia exacerbates the problem of getting "lost in information space" by providing a complex associative structure that can be traversed, but not fully visualized. Information gets lost because it becomes difficult to organize and tag effectively, while users get lost as they lose sense of where they are in the hypermedia.

Getting lost or disoriented occurs when one doesn't know where one is. Solutions to the problem of disorientation in hypermedia appear to fall into two general classes. First, one can create maps or browsers that allows users to determine where they are in terms of the overall network, or regions thereof. Second, one can create tags, markers or milestones which represent familiar locations, much as a lighthouse signals location in the middle of a foggy night. This paper reports basic research on the identification of landmarks in a hypermedia application.

Keywords: Browsing; Empirical studies; Evaluation; Hypermedia/Information systems; Models and theories; Navigation

Originally published: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 32nd Annual Meeting, 1988, pp. 318-322

Republished: G. Perlman, G. K. Green, & M. S. Wogalter (Eds.) Human Factors Perspectives on Human-Computer Interaction: Selections from Proceedings of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meetings, 1983-1994, Santa Monica, CA: HFES, 1995, pp. 147-151.