Implications of an open, extensible, and distributed hypermedia information system architecture for interprocess communication subsystem design

Abstract

The properties of openness and extensibility have been characterized as necessary for advanced hypermedia system architectures. The hypothesis in this work was that the design of the interprocess communication subsystem underlying a hypermedia system could promote these characteristics. A derivation of the stated requirements for hypermedia system architectures was constructed. In addition to the result of deriving the need for openness and extensibility, another characteristic, dynamic application process modification, was shown to be a (pragmatic) necessity. These characteristics were grouped under a new term, pleosis. The research presented has two main implications for the field of hypermedia systems. Firstly, derivations of the pragmatic necessity of the various aspects of pleosis confirm empirically observed assertions. Namely, it was shown that openness and extensibility are necessary in any complete information system. It was also shown that dynamic process modification was as important in an information system as openness and extensibility. Secondly, it was shown that the design and implementation of an interprocess communication subsystem has critical implications for the supersystem into which it is integrated. Namely, if the interprocess communication subsystem does not support dynamic addition of protocols and media definitions as well as dynamic process modification, the supersystem itself cannot be complete with respect to information system services rendered. This aspect of hypermedia system architecture design has received little attention in the field to this point.