Hypermedia is not a new concept for many of us. Even if the term is unfamiliar, all of us are beneficiaries of this innovation that helps us every day as we surf the World Wide Web. But did you know that hypermedia is a link to two information processing technologies viz hypertext and multimedia?

Hypertext is a text form that has links embedded in it for easy surfing on the internet. From the video you would have gathered that hypertext is a non linear and non sequential method of organizing text designed for users like us to access information from the text in ways that are more useful to us. This is based on the assumption that I, as the reader of a particular text, would want to impose demands on the text that is meaningful to me as reader.

Hypertext is made up of a link referred to as a hyperlink. A hyperlink usually appears highlighted in blue (see above at the reference to the video or send a friends email address to another friend, e.g. musadipter@gmail.com).

These links can also appear as icons or pictures. The links are embedded using Hypertext Markup Language. When you move the cursor to the link, the cursor changes into a finger meaning you can click on it. When you click on a hyperlink, it connects you to either a different website, or a different part of the web page that you are on.

There are two types of links. They are either a relative link or an absolute link.

• A relative link is a term that is used when a hyperlink takes you a different page that is on the same website that you're viewing.
• An absolute link is a hyperlink that takes you a completely different website. Sometimes, absolute links do not work because they may not be under the control of the person who made the website that you are currently on.

Without hypertext, websites would not exist; there will be just web pages which have no connection between each other. An innovator called Ted Nelson (1965) coined the terms hypertext but the credit to envision the idea of using technology to linking the world's information resources must go to Vannevar Bush who wrote the ground breaking article As We May Think (1945).

Hypermedia

Often both in literature as well as in conversation we often use the term hypertext interchangeably with the term hypermedia. Strictly speaking they are different as hypermedia as the word itself suggests something beyond the linking of just text alone. Indeed, it also connects many diverse forms of media such as images, sound, video animations and simulations. It is a multimedia link. Regardless of the terms and similarities to hypertext, the technology is based on chunks (nodes) of data (information) that are linked together for users such as you to explore the world of knowledge in any sequence that you may desire. The most obvious example of this value is the World Wide Web (WWW) which provides humanity endless opportunities to explore multiple documents and follow the many varied paths of exploration that any individual may wish to pursue.

Educators generally get excited about the value of hypermedia in the classroom. Without a doubt it is an exciting tool especially because of its facility to provide non linear access to information, explore information on demand, facilitate self paced learning and engage the learner in an interactive way. It also has the added value of responding to learners with different styles of learning in a variety of media formats. However, the jury is still out there on whether hypermedia is the technological panacea that many of us dream about. The uncertainties come from the following:

• Whether all learning tasks are well supported by hypermedia or are they biased only towards some?
• What influence does an individual learner's characteristics have on the effectiveness of the hypermedia? Does prior knowledge matter? How about spatial skills - what differences will these make to an individual's ability to work in hyperspace?
• How about the value of pedagogical approaches such as the provision of advance organisers?
• Do the skills of teachers matter?