Open Hypertext Workshop

Southampton, December 7^th and 8^th. 1996

Following the success of the 1^st and 2^nd Workshops on Open Hypermedia Systems, held in conjunction with ECHT '94 at Edinburgh and ACM Hypertext '96 at Washington, there will be an "intermediate" workshop on Open Hypertext, held at Southampton, timed to immediately follow the Hypertext '97 program committee meeting at Southampton.

At the Washington workshop, the community agreed to progress the activities of this group in two directions.

Defining Open Hypermedia Systems by Scenarios. The decision was made to try to define the scope of open hypermedia systems (OHS's) by example. That is, instead of defining the systems themselves, we want to construct a "canonical" set of scenarios that describe problems that we feel are addressed by OHS's. These scenarios should give the hypermedia research community a common terminology that can be used to measure the relative strengths and weaknesses (and the relative applicability) of different approaches to our problem domain.
Defining Open Link Services. The effort to define open link services is embodied in the emerging definition of a standard link services protocol (OHP). Through the protocol, various levels of hypermedia-awareness on the part of the application, as well as various levels of functionality on the part of link servers, are implicitly defined. We expect that this protocol will not only address the research question of the nature of open link services, but also provide a practical method of allowing inter-operability between different OHS's.

A working page has been set up by Texas A&M University's CSDL, which contains more information..

The Southampton workshop is intended to progress the research in these areas, and it is intended that, in conjunction with the OHS workshop at HT '97, this community will publish some results.

Timetable

The timetable for the weekend will be

Saturday 7^th December

0930 - 1000 Introduction
1000 - 1230 Presentation of Scenarios
1230 - 1400 Lunch
1400 - 1600 Presentation of Scenarios
1600 - 1700 Summary and Conclusions on Scenarios
1830 Workshop Supper

Sunday 8^th December

0930 - 1000 Introduction to the Protocol Problem
1000 - 1300 Views and Discussion of OHS Protocols
1300 Lunch, and depart to catch planes

All attendees of the workshop will be requested to make a short presentation at the workshop either by describing a scenario or by commenting on some aspect of the protocol debate. The exact topic of this presentation will be agreed by the organizer and attendee some time in November. Position papers will not be required before the workshop, although contributions to the Web pages at Texas A&M will be welcomed. It is hoped that after the workshop participants will contribute to the published proceedings.

Cost

There will be no cost associated with the workshop itself. Attendees will be expected to pay their own travel, board and lodging.

Accommodation

The following hotels might be suitable:

Chilworth Manor(this is where the conference committee are booked for the previous nights) is £60.00 per night. This is out in the country and is a 3 mile taxi ride from the University. Nice, but probably not ideal place for this stay.

The County is £45.00 per night B&B. This is a reasonable commercial hotel within reasonable walking distance from the University. Probably the best bet, +44 (0)1703 559555

The Novotel is 59.00 per night B&B. This is a big new commercial hotel nearer to the town center - a 3 mile bus or taxi ride from the University. +44 (0)1703 330550

I can also arrange cheaper (~£25.00?) "Bed and Breakfast" accommodation within walking distance of the University if required. Contact Hugh Davis (hcd@ecs.soton.ac.uk)

Where?

The Workshop will be held in Building 16 which is on the North East Side of the University Main Campus (see map). (It was once known as the "New Oceanography building").

How to Apply

Please email Hugh Davis (hcd@ecs.soton.ac.uk) as soon as possible, declaring your intention to attend this workshop. Hugh is also prepared to arrange hotels / bed and breakfast.