Semantically indexed hypermedia: Linking information disciplines

Semantic linking has always been a strand of hypermedia research and is bec oming central to current attempts to facilitate access to information in la rge hypertexts and the emerging 'semantic web' [Berners-Lee 1998a]. Due to the scaling problems with explicitly authored links between information ite ms, it is likely that future large scale hypertexts will employ a mixture o f authored links and indirect, computed links via some form of indexing sys tem. Problems of information access are heightened by the lack of precision of current WWW retrieval technology and users unfamiliar with indexing con ventions. There is a critical need for tools that will assist users to form ulate and refine queries, and navigate through information spaces. Recent y ears have seen the growth of metadata, Digital Libraries, and interest in t he application of traditional information science and library cataloguing t echniques to the new environment of hypertext and the WWW. Semantic indexin g provides a bridge between the various information disciplines. With the g rowing influence of the Resource Description Framework [Lassila 1999], sema ntic tagging and cataloguing of information is likely to become a key compo nent of the information architecture of intranet hypertexts and the WWW.