THE CONTRIBUTION OF HYPERMEDIA LINK AUTHORING

Linking, when properly executed, enhances the value of content by prov iding a consistent perspective and organizational scheme that enriches the user's experience. Link authoring, like content authoring, is a c reative process of making connections between disparate yet related in formation. Effective link authoring requires intellect, creativity, an d domain knowledge to define the relationships among concepts that can support a particular pedagogical objective. The contribution of hyper media link authoring is often poorly understood and unrecognized by tr aditional academic and publishing communities. Publishers of commercia l and academic hypermedia typically neither formally recognize link au thoring as something that should be protected by copyright, nor do the y extend to those involved in link authoring the same degree of credit or remuneration given conventional content authors or illustrators. H owever, with the recent explosive growth in hypermedia publishing via the World Wide Web, CD-ROM, and other digital forms, the significance of link authoring is becoming more apparent. Clearly, a new paradigm i s in order, one that recognizes the contribution of link authoring in the communication of thoughts, emotions, and information.