Intermedia (hypertext)

Intermedia was a hypermedia system developed at Brown University's Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship (IRIS) from 1985 to 1995. It was a distributed hypermedia environment designed to allow multiple users to create and link information across different applications and document types.

Unlike hypertext systems constrained to a single application, Intermedia allowed users to create links between documents created in different applications running on Apple Macintosh computers. These applications could include word processors, graphics programs, and even spreadsheets. This cross-application linking was a key distinguishing feature.

The core of Intermedia comprised three main components: InterDraw (a drawing editor), InterText (a text editor), and InterSpect (a browser that allowed users to navigate the hypermedia web). These applications, along with other linked software, allowed users to create a shared information space.

Intermedia supported the creation of typed links, allowing users to define the nature of the relationship between linked documents (e.g., "supports," "contradicts," "explains"). These typed links were intended to help users understand the context and significance of the relationships between different pieces of information.

While innovative for its time, Intermedia was ultimately discontinued due to a number of factors, including the limitations of the hardware and software available at the time, the challenges of maintaining a complex, distributed system, and the increasing popularity of the World Wide Web, which offered a simpler and more accessible model for hypermedia. Despite its relatively short lifespan, Intermedia influenced later hypermedia systems and research, highlighting the potential of cross-application linking and collaborative information environments.