Query-based navigation in semantically indexed hypermedia

Abstract

This paper discusses an approach to navigation based on queries made possible by a semantic hypermedia architecture. Navigation via query offers an augmented browsing capacity based on measures of semantic closeness between terms in an index space that models the classification of artefacts within a museum collection management system. The paper discusses some of the possibilities that automatic traversal of relationships in the index space holds for hybrid query/navigation tools, such as navigation via similarity and query generalization. The example scenario suggests that, although these tools are implemented by complex queries, they fit into a browsing, rather than an analytical style of access. Such hybrid navigation tools are capable of overcoming some of the limitations of manual browsing and contributing to a smooth transition between browsing and query. A prototype implementation of the architecture is described, along with details of a social history application with three dimensions of classification schema in the index space. The paper discusses how queries can be used as the basis for navigation, and argues that this is integral to current efforts to integrate hypermedia and information retrieval.