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Expert systems and hypertext

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2009

Roy Rada
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, England
Judith Barlow
Affiliation:
US WEST Advanced Technologies, Englewood, Colorado 80111, USA

Abstract

Expert systems and hypertext are technologies which are coming together. This paper reviews the strengths and weaknesses of expert systems and hypertext. Then the complementarity of the two is both argued and illustrated. Translating expertise from documents into expert systems is difficult, but hypertext systems exploit the information in documents. Expert systems don't explain their decisions as well as some people would like, but hypertext is basically designed to provide explanations. On the other hand, people have difficulty deciding what links to follow in hypertext, but an expert system is designed to help people make decisions. When a hypertext reader is confused as to what step to follow next, an expert system might review the path taken thus far and suggest the appropriate next step. An annotated bibliography of the principal literature is provided.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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References

6 References

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