Document linking and embedding: A new hypermedia structuring paradigm

In this paper we examine issues of structuring and collaborative authoring of large distributed hypermedia databases. We contend that there exists a certain discrepancy between the needs of local users engaged in hypermedia authoring tasks and the functionality provided by such distributed hypermedia systems as World Wide Web. In this context we offer a so-called Document Linking and Embedding (DLE) concept. In accordance with this concept, links neither belong to individual nodes, nor they are globally addressable objects, but they are encapsulated within hypermedia containers called Structured Documents (S-Documents). A number of S-Documents can be gathered together into a new S-Document, which can be inserted into other S-Documents in turn. By definition, links cannot point outside an S-Document, but only between its members; hence S-Documents represent well-defined chunks of information. S-Documents may be re-used in various contexts without concern for superfluous hyperlinks.