Conceptual Analysis of Hypertext

Abstract

In this chapter tools and techniques from the mathematical theory of formal concept analysis are applied to hypertext systems in general, and the World Wide Web in particular. Various processes for the conceptual structuring of hypertext are discussed: summarization, conceptual scaling, and the creation of conceptual links. Well-known interchange formats for summarizing networked information resources as resource meta-information are reviewed, and two new interchange formats originating from formal concept analysis are advocated. Also reviewed is conceptual scaling, which provides a principled approach to the faceted analysis techniques in library science classification. The important notion of conceptual linkage is introduced as a generalization of a hyperlink. The automatic hyperization of the content of legacy data is described, and the composite conceptual structuring with hypertext linkage is defined. For the conceptual empowerment of the Web user, a new technique called conceptual browsing is advocated. Conceptual browsing, which browses over conceptual links, is dual mode (extensional versus intensional) and dual scope (global versus local).