Structured hypertext with domain semantics

One important facet of current hypertext research involves using knowledge-based techniques to develop and maintain document structures. A semantic net is one such technique. However, most semantic-net-based hypertext systems leave the linking consistency of the net to individual users. Users without guidance may accidentally introduce structural and relational inconsistencies in the semantic nets. The relational inconsistency hinders the creation of domain information models. The structural inconsistency leads to unstable documents, especially when a document is composed by computation with traversal algorithms. This work tackles the above problems by integrating logical structure and domain semantics into a semantic net. A semantic-net-based structured-hypertext model has been formalized. The model preserves structural and relational consistency after changes to the semantic net. The hypertext system (RICH) based on this model has been implemented and tested. The RICH system can define and enforce a set of rules to maintain the integrity of the semantic net and provide particular support for creating multihierarchies with the reuse of existing contents and structures. Users have found such flexible but enforceable semantics to be helpful. © 1998 ACM.