Scholarly Discourse as Computable Structure

In their initial proposal for structural computing (SC), NŸrnberg et al. [18] point to hypertext argumentation systems as an example of an application domain in which structure is of first-order importance. In this paper we summarise the goals and implementation of a knowledge based hypertext environment called ScholOnto (for Scholarly Ontologies), which aims to provide researchers with computational support in representing and analysing the structure of scholarly claims, argumentation and perspectives. A specialised web server will provide a medium for researchers to contest the significance of concepts and emergent structures. In so doing, participants construct an evolving structure that reflects a community's understandings of its field, and which can support computational services for scholars. Using structural analyses of scholarly argumentation, we consider the connections with structural computing, and propose a number of requirements for generic SC environments.

Publication(s)

Second International Workshop on Structural Computing, San Antonio, Texas, June 3, 2000. ACM Hypertext 2000 [www.ht00.org]