Hypertext is used in many computer-based technologies and so you can find
hypertext in many fields of inquiry.  For example you can find articles and
presentations in about hypertext in conferences about: digital libraries,
documentation, education, literature, and user interfaces.  There are
however two main conferences for the discussion and study of hypertext in
general: the Hypertext conference (HT) and Digital Arts and Culture (DAC).
Of course the World-Wide Web (WWW) and Annual Conference on World-Wide Web
Applications (ACWWWA) will be of interest to many people who read this
document as well.

  Hypertext is a broad-based conference for exchanges about hypertext.  It
draws artists, developers, and researchers.  According to the DAC 2001
homepage, DAC `aims to embrace and explore the cross-disciplinary and
cross-cultural theory and practice of contemporary digital arts and
culture.'

  Information about those conferences, or links to that information, can be
found at 
   * Hypertext: <URL:http://www.acm.org/sigweb/>
   * DAC:       <URL:http://www.stg.brown.edu/conferences/DAC/>
   * WWW:       <URL:http://www.w3.org/Conferences/Overview-WWW>
   * ACWWWA:    <URL:http://www.rau.ac.za/conf/www2001/>

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** Section 3: Hypertext Models **

Subject: Q3.1) What hypertext systems I can read about online?

  It seems impractical to list all of the myriad of hypertext/hypermedia
systems available today.  I've included some major systems here.  If you
feel that some other system has been unfairly excluded then please write
me.  If this list grows too long then it might become a separate posting or
removed altogether.  See also HyTime in question 3.2 below.  The Electronic
Literature Organization might have a list of hypertext tools and systems
available at their website <URL:http://www.eliterature.org/>.

  * HyperWave (formerly Hyper-G) <URL:http://www.hyperwave.com>
      HyperWave is a sophisticated Web document management system
      for large information spaces. The project began under the name
      Hyper-G in 1990. Among other things, it features hierarchical
      structuring, link management, attribute and full text search,
      access control, and interactive link and document editing.

     See also the comp.infosystems.hyperg newsgroup.

  * Microcosm <URL:http://www.multicosm.com/microcosm/index.html>
      An open and extensible hypermedia system designed for managing
      and disseminating unstructured digitally encoded files.
      [URL updated 11 Jan 1998]

  * Storyspace <URL:http://www.eastgate.com/Storyspace.html> A
      commercial product described as a `writing environment designed
      for the process of writing. Storyspace is especially well suited
      to working with large, complex, and challenging hypertexts.'
      According to Mark Bernstein, its most distinctive features are
      its hierarchical backbone structure and dynamically flexible
      links with `guard fields', i.e. conditional links (links that
      are available only if certain nodes have been visited.

  * Webthing <URL:http://www.webthing.com/self-org/>
      Webthing's Holistic Hypertext is an object-oriented hypertext system
      designed for collaborative authoring and implemented on the
      WWW. Documents in Webthing generate HTML links from other documents
      on-the-fly, relieving authors of the need to manage HTML links, and
      eliminating the problem of outdated or uncoordinated references.
      [URL updated 27 Jan 1998]

      NB: This system will be unavailable for an unspecified time. For more
       information send e-mail to <webthing@webthing.com> or see the
       Webthing, Ltd. website at <URL:http://www.webthing.com>. 

       A search for WWW-based wikis will likely turn up systems with
       related functionality. A search for the term open hypermedia
       sytem will likely turn up more systems and architectures.
       [Note added 08 May 2002]

  * World Wide Web <URL:http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/WWW/>
      A very popular link-based hypertext system based on a client-server
      architecture running on the Internet.

      See also question 5.2 for some other resources.

  * Xanadu  <URL:http://www.xanadu.com.au/xanadu/>
      The system Ted Nelson wrote about in his ground breaking book 
      _Literary Machines_.

      See also the Xanadu FAQ list (posted to several newsgroups, including
      alt.hypertext, and available: (a) in text form from <URL:ftp://rtfm.
      mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/xanadu-faq>; (b) and HTML form from 
      <URL:http://xanadu.com.au/xanadu/faq.html>).