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Navigation problems in a hypertext might be reduced, if multiple, coherent views of the hypertext were available. Document outlines help readers appreciate the structure and meaning of the document. We propose measures of syntactic and lexical balance in an outline and show in a sample of documents the degree to which these balances occur. Based on balance in an outline, a method for semi‐automatically generating an alternative outline is applied to one textbook. The textbook with both its original and its alternative outline is available in hypertext, and subjects who were asked to evaluate this hypertext noted that the alternative outline would help readers compare concepts in the textbook. The computer programs for generating outlines have been used in several writing tasks, including the writing of this paper.

A thesaurus may be viewed as a graph, and document retrieval algorithms can exploit this graph when both the documents and the query are represented by thesaurus terms. These retrieval algorithms measure the distance between the query and documents by using the path lengths in the graph. Previous work with such strategies has shown that the hierarchical relations in the thesaurus are useful but the non‐hierarchical relations are not. This paper shows that when the query explicitly mentions a particular non‐hierarchical relation, the retrieval algorithm benefits from the presence of such relations in the thesaurus. Our algorithms were applied to the Excerpta Medica bibliographic citation database whose citations are indexed with terms from the EMTREE thesaurus. We also created an enriched EMTREE by systematically adding non‐hierarchical relations from a medical knowledge base. Our algorithms used at one time EMTREE and, at another time, the enriched EMTREE in the course of ranking documents from Excerpta Medica against queries. When, and only when, the query specifically mentioned a particular non‐hierarchical relation type, did EMTREE enriched with that relation type lead to a ranking that better corresponded to an expert's ranking.

An indexing language is made more accessible to searchers and indexers by the presence of entry terms or near‐synonyms. This paper first presents an evaluation of existing entry terms and then presents and tests a strategy for creating entry terms. The key tools in the evaluation of the entry terms are documents already indexed into the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and an automatic indexer. If the automatic indexer can better map the title to the index terms with the use of entry terms than without entry terms, then the entry terms have helped. Sensitive assessment of the automatic indexer requires the introduction of measures of conceptual closeness between the computer and human output. With the tools described in this paper, one can systematically demonstrate that certain entry terms have ambiguous meanings. In the selection of new entry terms another controlled vocabulary or thesaurus, called the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED), was consulted. An algorithm for mapping terms from SNOMED to MeSH was implemented and evaluated with the automatic indexer. The new SNOMED‐based entry terms did not help indexing but did show how new concepts might be identified which would constitute meaningful amendments to MeSH. Finally, an improved algorithm for combining two thesauri was applied to the Computing Reviews Classification Structure (CRCS) and MeSH. CRCS plus MeSH supported better indexing than did MeSH alone.

A framework for reuse in educational information systems is elaborated, and evidence is presented that reuse occurs often at various levels of the educational enterprise. Case studies of the development of two online degree programs and one professional training program indicate that existing textbooks and government documents, virtual classroom tools, and administrative models and marketing mechanisms are reused. Effective reuse builds on models and mechanisms at the different levels of the educational enterprise – from individual learning to administration and from content development to delivery.

Interchange of text and hypertext between various systems is vital in order to reuse text and hypertext, but the task of generating translators between different representations is often complex and tedious. The Integrated Chameleon Architecture (ICA) is a public domain toolset for generating translators. However, ica can only handle context‐free grammars while the grammar of hypertext is not context‐free. This paper presents an extended ICA (E‐ICA) which is based on ICA with extra pre‐ and post‐processors to handle the context‐sensitive and implicit information of hypertext. A system called SGML‐MUCH has been developed using E‐ICA. The development and use of the SGML‐MUCH system is presented as a case study with converters for the hypertext systems MUCH, Guide, Hyperties, and Toolbook described in detail.

Since publication of an earlier hypertext/hyper‐media bibliography in Library Hi Tech Bibliography, two trends have experienced accelerated growth. The first is the explosion of hypermedia and hypermedia tools in both quantity and quality. Movies, pictures, and sound are now commonly linked with hypertext in ever‐more complex presentations. This trend will continue as costs begin to decrease.

Paul Outlet. International organisation and dissemination of knowledge: selected essays of Paul Otlet translated and edited with an introduction by W. Boyd Rayward. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1990. xi, 256 pp. $115.50/Dfl.225. 0 444 88678 8. (fid 684) Paul Otlet was born in Brussels in August 1868 and died there in December 1944. A lawyer who grew to be ‘bored with the law’ and became absorbed with books, libraries and information, he is probably principally remembered in connection with the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC).

Presents an extended study of the transformation of a university research group into a learning organization. The transformation process was realized during the rapid development of a small group into a medium‐sized organization through the addition of major projects, necessitating change from a hierarchy to a matrix organization. Central to the development of the organization and its learning ethos was the introduction of a hypermedia groupware system (PD1). Documents the cycles of evaluation and change up to assessment of PD1. Concludes that the evolutionary transformation of an organization can be a managed and a learning process, involving, and depending on, all participants and their constructive use of an enabling information technology infrastructure in a period of change and transition.

Discusses how, in Part 1 the research group was at a “pioneering crisis” stage with considerable role and task ambiguity. An organizational development process was initiated aiming for greater systemization: a matrix structure was introduced and a groupware tool, the plan‐document (PD1), was implemented, as part of the group’s strategy to develop into a learning organization. States that the plan‐document was designed to enable information sharing and co‐ordination throughout the group, ranging over the short‐ and long‐terms. Usage was, however, low and PD1 was not widely adopted, although usage varied according to timescales and the personal relevance of objectives. A second plan‐document (PD2) was designed, aimed at being more “personal” and accessible, attuned to the new matrix structure and including reporting as well as planning functions. Looks at the introduction of PD2 and evaluates its contribution to the transition of the research group into both a systematized and a learning organization. Posits that groupware can go some way towards helping organizations meet the challenges of an uncertain environment through supporting open access between groups and individuals and fostering the group cohesiveness and interdependence.

To assess and plan alterations in outpatient clinic structure, produces a computer simulation of an outpatient clinic based on detailed time and role measurements from the authors’ clinic. The simulation which used an object‐oriented design method is able to indicate the impact of changes in clinic structure using patient and doctor waiting times in clinic as endpoint measures. Examines the effects of changes in clinic size, consultation time, patient mix, appointment scheduling and non‐attendance. Finds that patient waiting time could be shortened considerably by using an optimizing appointment scheduler to determine appointment intervals. Clinic mix influences patient waiting time, which was shorter with a 1 in 4 ratio of new to follow‐up patients. In mixed clinics, new patients appointments are optimally spread throughout the clinic to reduce patient waiting time. In all new or all follow‐up clinics, waiting time is improved if the appointment interval reflects the consultation time. Computer modelling can help in optimizing clinic management so improving the delivery of care in outpatient services.