Analysis of Hypertextuality
The Cmap tool allows us to confirm the tentative conclusions drawn from the analysis of the graph (i.e., see discussion section above) and to analyse the hypertextuality and types of links within the websites. For this analysis we distinguish between generic, semi-generic and specific links. Generic links provide access to the main areas of a website and are usually “inserted in the top section of the document (e.g., in the navigation bar or a hyperlinked table of contents)” (Askehave and Nielsen, 2005: 6). Most generic links are static, acting as navigation bars on the entire site. They are “empty content” categories, which bring the user from “a point of entry of the topic (A) to the topic itself (B)” (ibid.: 6). Specific links are “thematically contextualised” links which “are often inserted further down on the page primarily containing real information and the links are of a changeable nature” (ibid.: 6). Semi-generic links do not occur on all the pages of the website, but they occur on a lower level, facilitating navigation among the different sections within that level.
Figure 5: Cmap for Automates Intelligents
Although the Automates Intelligents website is hosted by the Admiroutes website, in order to reduce complexity, in our analysis we will consider the homepage of the Automates Intelligents website as level 1. The conceptual map in Figure 5 above corresponds to a visit in May, 2006. However, except for the Actualité link in the menu, results are still valid and have been checked in subsequent visits until March 2007. The analysis of the map helps us to make the following statements:
Figure 6: Cmap for Robot Pals
As we have already noted, Robot Pals is the site for one of the shows of Scientific American Frontiers, which in turn is part of the PBS site. Therefore, we consider the host site, PBS, as level 1, the Scientific American Frontiers site as level 2 and the Robot Pals site as level 3. The links within Robot Pals lead to the different contents of the site, which will be considered level 4. Levels 1, 2 and 3 act as index pages or content organisers: we only access real content on level 4, where we find the different types of content that make up Robot Pals. Like most sites, the Robot Pals site displays generic, semi-generic and specific links.
At the Robot Pals site, the generic links act as a gateway to different parts of the PBS website (PBS home, programmes A-Z, TV schedules, PBS support, PBS shop, PBS search) and occur in all the pages of this site. Rather than linking to the different content sections of the PBS site, the links lead to “tool pages”, where the user can do different things within the site (search, buy, etc.). In order to access the different content sections of the PBS site, the user will need to access the site through the first generic link on the menu (PBS home). The left-hand menu of the Robot Pals site includes semi-generic links which are present on all the pages of the Scientific American Frontiers shows: schedule, Alan Alda, for educators, previous shows, future shows, special features. They only occur on the different pages of the Scientific American Frontiers site and have the purpose of facilitating navigation between different parts of this site. Specific links are isolated links which occur only on a specific page, not in clusters, leading to information that is relevant only for that page, e.g. all the links to level 4, which lead to specific information.
An interesting feature of the linking system of the Robot Pals site is that the home page has several links which start from different anchors but lead to the same destination. For instance, there are two anchors to the abstracts of each segment of the video, one being a graphic anchor and the other a textual anchor; that is, the user can access the segments from two different parts of the homepage. This is also the case of the online video, which can be accessed through two different links. This duplication of links may be a way to ensure that these contents are accessed.
As Figure 6 shows, the Robot Pals site is quite an independent self-contained unit, with little connectivity with other pages of the site. The generic and semi-generic links only serve to facilitate navigation, but they do not link to information that is relevant or related to the content of Robot Pals. There is only one external link, but this is to the programme producers and, again, is not used to link to relevant content. The Robot Pals site also includes the link “weblinks and more”, where we can finally find external links to pages related to social robots and artificial intelligence, but as these links occur on an independent page and are not embedded within the different content documents of the Robot Pals site, they are presented as additional information, not really important for gaining a better understanding of the content of the documents.
Discussion
The analysis of the Cmaps of the two websites confirms the results obtained in the two previous analyses discussed above. Indeed, Automates Intelligents is the website that includes the largest number of external links. The reason for this result might be due to the mirror-like structure that the graph reveals (see discussion section of graphs analysis). Automates Intelligents aims at reflecting different perspectives of the same topics (version of the articles on other sites, reviews, links to personal webpages, to magazines, journals, editorials, newspapers, etc.). On the other hand, the Cmap from Robot Pals shows a significant number of internal links. This result might be seen as evidence of the fractal structure of the site, as seen in its graph. In fact, the generic links on the site link to upper levels of the site and not to different pages within the same level. Furthermore, at both sites the contents displayed are linked to pages from the same website and sometimes users can even access the same content from different access points. The results of the Cmaps from the three websites lead us to confirm that the hypertextual structure of a website might also reveal its communicative purpose. In this sense, the analysis of the Cmap from Automates Intelligents shows that the site has an informative and popularising dynamics, since the reader/user is referred to different versions by means of the external links. This structure of links facilitates multigenericity and multilinguism. In the case of Robot Pals the implementation of internal links and the repetitive structure supports the pedagogical and instructive purpose of the website.
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