00CONTENTS ---------- This file describes the contents of: ftp://ftp.iicm.tu-graz.ac.at/pub/Hyper-G/papers Technical Documentation for Hyper-G: ------------------------------------ HTF.ps "Hyper-G Text Format (HTF)" The specification of the Hyper-G text format. You need to read this if you plan enter text documents in HTF or to write filters to insert mass data in Hyper-G. Is really a pointer to the current version of the specification. Protocol.ps "Hyper-G Client/Server Protocol (HG-CSP)" The specification of the Hyper-G client/server protocol. You need to read this if you want to write a new Hyper-G client or low-level tool to manipulate information in a Hyper-G server. Is really a pointer to the current version of the protocol specification. hug.ps "Harmony User Guide" 65 pages PostScript (27MB uncompressed). Detailed description of Harmony (Unix/X11 client/authoring tool for Hyper-G), including installation guide. amadeus.ps "Amadeus User Guide" 38 pages PostScript. Detailed description of Amadeus (Windows client/authoring tool for Hyper-G), including installation guide. Research Papers on Hyper-G (listed in reverse chronological order): ------------------------------------------------------------------- vrml95.ps Michael Pichler, Gerbert Orasche, Keith Andrews, Ed Grossman, and Mark McCahill; "VRweb: A Multi-System VRML Viewer"; To appear in Proceedings of The First Annual Symposium on the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML 95), San Diego, California, December 1995. [9 pages, 14.6 MB uncompressed] Abstract: As VRML becomes *the* standard for describing 3D scenes on the Internet, many VRML viewers are being developed with proprietary interests or for specific target systems or protocols. VRweb is a VRML viewer providing the same user interface for multiple Web protocols (WWW, Gopher, and Hyper-G) and multiple platforms (Unix, Windows, and Macintosh) and is available as both binary and source code. VRweb source code is copyrighted, but is freely available for non-commercial use, providing a platform for research and experiment. Unlike other VRML viewers available in source code, VRweb does *not* require additional commercial libraries like OpenInventor or Motif, it is based entirely on freely available software components. A short overview of currently available VRML browsers is followed by a more detailed look at VRweb, including its user interface, multi-system nature, and software architecture. windisch.ps Claudia Windisch: "HarAdmin: A Graphical Tool for Hyper-G Server Administration" Master Thesis, IICM, Graz University of Technology, Austria, November 1995. [108 pages] Abstract: This thesis gives a short overview of information systems available on the Internet and a detailed description of Hyper-G, the first second generation hypermedia information system. The biggest problem of distributed information systems is disorientation. Because of the huge amount of information available on the Internet the user has difficulty to gain an overview, to know how much information exists to a certain topic, etc. Hyper-G has navigational, structuring, and search facilities to help cope with this problem. Two particular features are Hyper-G's user accounts and its hierarchical scheme of user groups, which are used to grant or deny access to specific parts of the information space. Hgadmin, a VT100 terminal and HarAdmin, a graphical X-Windows based tool for user and group administration are explained in detail in this thesis. HarAdmin is based on the Hyper-G Client/Server Protocol and on hgadmin. It provides functionality for browsing through the user-group hierarchy, displays all existing users and groups of the current Hyper-G server, and makes it easy to create, delete, and manipulate user accounts and user groups. eyl.ps Martin Eyl: "The Harmony Information Landscape: Interactive, Three-Dimensional Navigation Through an Information Space", Master Thesis, IICM, Graz University of Technology, Austria, October 1995. [109 pages] Abstract: Computer have made it possible to store and process larger and larger amounts of information, but humans have problems to manage such large amounts of data. Hence user interfaces have improved and the use of spatial metaphors and hyperlinks and the 3D representation of information have gained in significance. This thesis first discusses a number of research projects which use spatial metaphors and then introduces you to hypertext and the Harmony Information Landscape which visualizes the hierarchical structure of information as an information landscape. This information is stored on a Hyper-G server which is an Internet-based, large-scale hypermedia system. Blocks representing collections of individual pieces of information are spread out on a plane and one can interactively fly over this virtual landscape. Several different navigation modes are provided. ivis95.ps Keith Andrews; "Visualising Cyberspace: Information Visualisation in the Harmony Internet Browser"; Proc. of First IEEE Symposium on Information Visualization, Atlanta, GA, Oct. 1995. [8 pages, 13.8 MB uncompressed] Abstract: The explosive growth of information systems on the Internet has clearly demonstrated the need to organise, filter, and present information in ways which allow users to cope with the sheer quantities of information available. The scope for visualisation of Gopher and WWW spaces is restricted by the limitations of their respective data models. The far richer data model supported by the Hyper-G Internet information system is exploited by its Harmony client to provide a number of tightly-coupled, two- and three-dimensional visualisation and navigational facilities, which help provide location feedback and alleviate user disorientation. derler.ps Christian Derler: "The World-Wide Web Gateway to Hyper-G: Using a Connectionless Protocol to Access Session-Oriented Services", Master Thesis, IICM, Graz University of Technology, Austria, March 1995. [105 pages] Abstract: In this thesis, possibilities are studied how session-oriented services on the Internet can be made accessible to users of client programs that use a connectionless application-level protocol. The concepts and properties of two Hypermedia Information Systems, the World-Wide Web (WWW) and Hyper-G, are described and a comparison between these two systems is given. A gateway program was developed which is used as a protocol converter between the session-oriented Hyper-G client-server protocol and the connectionless Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). A mechanism was implemented that allows to differentiate HTTP requests and to assign them to Hyper-G sessions. The gateway provides users of World-Wide Web clients with session-oriented access to information residing on Hyper-G servers. marschall.ps Bernhard Marschall: "Integration of Digital Video into Distributed Hypermedia Systems", Master Thesis, IICM, Graz University of Technology, Austria, March 1995. [80 pages] Abstract: This thesis discusses digital video and its integration into hypermedia systems. It shows some algorithms and formats to compress and store digital video, focusing on the MPEG standard. General topics on hypertext and hypermedia systems are discussed as well as their problems and drawbacks, and ways to overcome them. As a special example the architecture and features of Hyper-G and its Unix/X11 client Harmony are described. Finally, the features and implementation of the Harmony Film Player are described. It fully integrates MPEG movies into the hyperlink structure of Hyper-G/Harmony by allowing links from and to movie documents. Any part of a movie, both temporal and spatial, can be used either as source or destination anchor of a hyperlink. chi95.ps Keith Andrews, Frank Kappe, and Hermann Maurer; "Hyper-G and Harmony: Towards the Next Generation of Networked Information Technology"; Formal Demo Summary, to appear in CHI'95 Conference Companion, Denver, May 1995. [2 pages] Abstract: Current networked information systems on the Internet, whilst extremely successful, run into problems of fragmentation, consistency, scalability, and loss of orientation. The development of "second generation" networked information systems, such as Hyper-G and its Harmony client, can help overcome these limitations. Of particular note are Hyper-G's tightly-coupled structuring, linking, and search facilities, its projection of a seamless information space across server boundaries with respect to each of these facilities, and its support for multiple languages. Harmony utilises two and three-dimensional visualisations of the information space and couples location feedback to search and link browsing operations, in order to reduce the likelihood of disorientation. dms94.ps Keith Andrews, Frank Kappe, and Hermann Maurer; "The Hyper-G Network Information System"; J.UCS, Vol. 1, No. 4, April 1995, Special Issue: Selected Proceedings of the Workshop on Distributed Multimedia Systems, Graz, Austria, Nov. 1994. [15 pages] Abstract: As the Internet continues to experience exponential rates of growth, attention is shifting away from mainstream network services such as electronic mail and file transfer to more interactive information services. Current network information systems, whilst extremely successful, run into problems of fragmentation, consistency, scalability, and loss of orientation. The development of "second generation" network information systems such as Hyper-G can help overcome these limitations. Of particular note are Hyper-G's tightly-coupled structuring, linking, and search facilities, its projection of a seamless information space across server boundaries with respect to each of these facilities, and its support for multiple languages. The Harmony client for Hyper-G utilises two and three-dimensional visualisations of the information space and couples location feedback to search and link browsing operations, in order to reduce the likelihood of disorientation. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of Hyper-G and Harmony. www95.ps Keith Andrews, Frank Kappe, and Hermann Maurer; "Serving Information to the Web with Hyper-G"; To appear in Computer Networks and ISDN Systems, Vol. 27, No. 6, April 1995, Proc. Third International World-Wide Web Conference, WWW'95, Darmstadt, Germany, April 1995. Abstract: The provision and maintenance of truly large-scale information resources on the World-Wide Web necessitates server architectures offering substantially more functionality than simply serving HTML files from the local file system and processing CGI requests. This paper describes Hyper-G, a large-scale, multi-protocol, distributed, hypermedia information system which uses an object-oriented database layer to provide information structuring and link maintenance facilities in addition to fully integrated attribute and content search, a hierarchical access control scheme, support for multiple languages, interactive link editing, and point-and-click document insertion. p-flood.ps Frank Kappe: "A Scalable Architecture for Maintaining Referential Integrity in Distributed Information Systems", J.UCS, Vol. 1, No. 2, February 1995. Abstract: One of the problems that we experience with today's most widespread Internet Information Systems (like WWW or Gopher) is the lack of support for maintaining referential integrity. Whenever a resource is (re)moved, dangling references from other resources may occur. This paper presents a scalable architecture for automatic maintenance of referential integrity in large (thousands of servers) distributed information systems. A central feature of the proposed architecture is the p-flood algorithm, which is a scalable, robust, prioritizable, probabilistic server-server protocol for efficient distribution of update information to a large collection of servers. The p-flood algorithm is now implemented in the Hyper-G system, but may in principle also be implemented as an add-on for existing WWW and Gopher servers. report388.ps Kappe F., Andrews K., Faschingbauer J., Gaisbauer M., Pichler M., Schipflinger J.: "Hyper-G: A New Tool for Distributed Hypermedia". Abstract: This paper describes Hyper-G, a new hypermedia information system which combines the best of Gopher, WAIS, and World Wide Web. Hyper-G is specifically designed as a distributed, large-scale hypermedia information system supporting navigation in a large body of dynamically changing information without becoming ``lost in hyperspace''. Users may choose a hierarchical navigation paradigm, click on hyper-links, go on guided tours, or perform variable-scope searches. This paper presents Hyper-G from the user's perspective, outlines the basic architecture of the system, and describes its interaction with existing distributed information retrieval tools like Gopher, WAIS, and World Wide Web. egmm94.ps Andrews K. and Kappe F.: "Soaring Through Hyperspace: A Snapshot of Hyper-G and its Harmony Client"; to appear in Proc. of Eurographics Symposium and Workshop on Multimedia: Multimedia/Hypermedia in Open Distributed Environments, Graz, Austria, June 1994. Abstract: This paper describes the current status of work on Hyper-G and its new viewer, Harmony. Hyper-G is a general-purpose, large-scale, distributed hypermedia information system under development at Graz University of Technology. It is based on the client-server model across the Internet and is interoperable with both Gopher and World Wide Web. Harmony is the new native Hyper-G client for X Windows on Unix platforms. It takes advantage of Hyper-G's structuring and retrieval features to provide both intuitive navigational facilities and informative feedback about the location of information. mhvr94.ps Andrews K. and Pichler M.: "Hooking Up 3-Space: Three-Dimensional Models as Fully-Fledged Hypermedia Documents"; to appear in Proc. of East-West International Conference on Multimedia, Hypermedia, and Virtual Reality, Moscow, Sept. 94. Abstract: This paper examines the incorporation of three-dimensional models into hypermedia systems as fully-fledged documents. Their use provides hypermedia authors with an additional, powerful means of presentation. Display, linking, navigational, and authoring aspects of 3D hypermedia documents are discussed and are illustrated with examples taken from the Harmony Viewer for the Hyper-G hypermedia information system. vrv93.ps Andrews K.: Constructing Cyberspace: Virtual Reality and Hypermedia. To appear in Proceedings of Virtual Reality Vienna '93. Abstract: Large-scale, distributed hypermedia information systems allow fast, structured access to very large, dynamic information bases. The highly perceptual nature of a virtual reality interface has the power to take users both inside information and inside its structure. Combining the two takes us a step towards cyberspace, William Gibson's vision of a virtual model of all the world's interconnected data. This paper reviews current work on the boundary of virtual reality and hypermedia. pichler[12].ps Michael Pichler: "Interactive Browsing of 3D Scenes in Hypermedia: The Hyper-G 3D Viewer", Master Thesis, IICM, Graz University of Tech- nology, Austria, October 1993. [130 pages] Abstract: This thesis discusses methods for interactive navigation through virtual 3D scenes in hypermedia systems. Several methods for manipulating the scene and navigating through it have been developed as well as alternatives for hightlighting pickable objects (information links). The implemented 3D viewer has been embedded into the Hyper-G hypermedia system. Program evaluation was done with heuristic evaluation and usability tests. inet93.ps Kappe F.: Hyper-G: A Distributed Hypermedia System. Proc. INET '93, San Francisco, California, pp. DCC-1--DCC-9 (Aug. 1993). Abstract: Hyper-G is a general-purpose, large-scale, distributed hypermedia system currently developed at the Graz University at Technology. It was designed for handling large amounts of multimedia data, and care has been taken to provide mechanisms for automatic maintenance of a dynamically changing body of information, advanced user interface features, and efficient use of network and computing resources. While Hyper-G was originally designed to run in fast, local-area networks, this paper shows how Hyper-G is currently being transformed into a global hypermedia information system distributed over Internet that retains Hyper-G's advanced functionality such as automatic link generation and maintenance, navigation facilities, access rights, and distributed searching, and makes efficient use of network bandwidth by extensive caching. report364.ps This file contains the paper "Hyper-G: A Large Universal Hypermedia System and Some Spin-Offs" that has appeared in ACM SIGGRAPH's experimental special online issue of "Computer Graphics" (May 1993) and can be retrieved by anonymous ftp from host siggraph.org in directory publications/May_93_online/Kappe.Maurer. Abstract: The incremental implementation of a thoroughly modular, large, networked hypermedia system called Hyper-G has been in progress in our research institutes in Graz for a number of years. By incremental we mean that certain parts of the system are not only working but are in actual use, while others are still in the process of being tested, developed or even specified. As additional modules become available they will improve current possibilities or add new functionality. Despite the fact that Hyper-G is a Unix-based networked system some parts of it can and have been ported to stand-alone PC platforms. In this paper we will first briefly describe Hyper-G, will then detail a few of the more unusual characteristics of it and will also explain a number of stand-alone applications that have become important on their own, mainly in the area of electronic publishing. Note: The whole paper is one large postscript file (~10MB uncompressed). If you want to look at the color images, you are probably better off accessing siggraph.org, or look at the electronic hypertext version that is contained on the Hyper-G server of Graz University of Technology. report363.ps Kappe F., Maurer H.: From Hypertext to Active Communication/Information Systems. IIG Report 364, IIG, Graz University of Technology, Austria, June 1993. Abstract: In this paper we advocate the integration of advanced communication facilities into a distributed hypermedia system. We will first develop a set of user requirements and then come up with a simple design based on three orthogonal concepts (annotation, active collections, and active documents) that can be used to implement the required features in a certain implementation of a distributed hypermedia system (Hyper-G). We also show how allowing to apply the three concepts to every object of the information space (as implied by the principle of orthogonality) transforms the passive information system into an ``active communication/information system'' in which the user is not only able to contribute to the information body, but also to let the system actively seek and deliver information according to the user's interests. report341.ps Kappe F., Pani G.: The Architecture of a Massively Distributed Hypermedia System. IIG Report 341, IIG, Graz University of Technology, Austria, Sept. 1991. Abstract: For about 50 years computer science pioneers have dreamt of augmenting their intellect by sharing the collective knowledge of individuals with each other through a global network of machines. However, until recently the technology to implement such a "global information system" was not available at reasonable cost. We believe that today's technology and concepts would allow to create an ambitious information and communication system based on hypermedia principles that would be massively distributed (i.e. over the whole world). This paper first compares the old visions with systems that are available today. Then we describe the architecture of a global, general-purpose hypermedia system in an evolutionary way, i.e. we show how it can be developed using techniques already explored by existing projects. The resulting global information system is specifically designed to operate in the real-world environment of the internet and makes efficient use of its structure. Note: has appeared in "Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy", 3(1): 10-24. report333.txt Kappe F., Maurer H., Sherbakov N.: Hyper-G - A Universal Hypermedia System. IIG Report 333, IIG, Graz University of Technology, Austria, June 1991. Abstract: Hyper-G is the name of an ambitious hypermedia project currently being developed as a joint effort by a number of institutes of the IIG (Institutes for Information-Processing Graz) of the Technical University of Graz and the Austrian Computer Society. Hyper-G is conceived as a Universal Hypermedia System. Hypertext and hypermedia systems were envisioned by pioneers like Bush, Engelbart and Nelson as one way of obtaining easy to use universal information systems. Hyper-G will be the basis of a University Information System which combines concepts of information retrieval systems, documentation systems, communication and collaboration, and computer supported teaching and learning. This article focuses on the applications of hypermedia technology in university environments, and describes the ideas and concepts behind Hyper-G as far as they are related to the university applications domain. Note: Has appeared in the Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia 2(1):39-66. For copyright reasons, we only offer the plain text without images and formatting for anon-ftp. Rather old stuff: ----------------- report266.ps Kappe F.: Picture Interchange Coding (PIC); Functional Specification and Encoding of Profile '2D'. IIG Report 266, IIG, Graz University of Technology, Austria, February 1989. Abstract: This documentation contains detailed specification of the Picture Interchange Coding (PIC) file format. PIC is a flexible format suitable for the encoding of graphical and related data. The PIC data format has been designed for and is used in conjunction with EDEN-based interactive graphics editors. It is also used as the image format of the 'Hyper-G' project. The functional specification is closely related to that of CGM, CGI and PHIGS. The document presents an overview of the basic concepts of EDEN and PIC, the functional specification of PIC, and the coding specification of profile '2D'. 60 pages. report284.ps Kappe F., Maurer H., Tomek I.: Hyper-G: Specification of Requirements. IIG Report 284, IIG, Graz University of Technology, Austria, April 1991. Abstract: Hyper-G is the name of an ambitious Hypermedia project currently being developed as a joint effort by a number of institutes of the IIG (Institutes for Information-Processing Graz) of the Technical University of Graz (yes, the 'G' in Hyper-G stands for Graz) and the Austrian Computer Society. Study of modern hypermedia systems, information systems, and user interfaces lead to a number of ideas, features, and examples of applications of Hyper-G. They were condensed, put into a logical relationship, and now form a framework of requirements that is contained in this report. The requirements may also be seen as a description of Hyper-G's features. Care has been taken to isolate requirements from implementation details, design decisions, examples and applications of Hyper-G. 25 pages. Note: Is a subset of report #308. report308.ps Kappe F.: Aspects of a Modern Multi-Media Information System. IIG Report 308, IIG, Graz University of Technology, Austria, June 1991. Abstract: This thesis describes a new, large-scale Hypermedia project ('Hyper-G') currently being developed at the Institute for Foundations of Information Processing and Computer Supported New Media (Head: Professor Hermann Maurer) of the Technical University of Graz. Experience gathered from modern Hypermedia systems, large-scale information systems, computer aided instruction and user interface design considerations led to a number of ideas, features, and examples of applications of Hyper-G. They were condensed, put into a logical relationship, and used to formulate a set of requirements. The requirements, additional design decisions, and a discussion of implementation-related issues are part of this thesis. Also, a new concept for the creation of real-time, interactive animation is presented. It is essentially a combination of Computer Animation and Hypermedia technologies, therefore it is called ``Hyper-Animation''. This concept is also the basis of some of the more advanced applications of Hyper-G that are described in this thesis. Applications range from information systems and electronic publishing to exhibits that may be found in a virtual museum or exhibition environment. 163 pages. Note: Reprint of Ph.D. Thesis of F. Kappe. .