linkeken

Linkeken is a neologism used in information architecture and digital humanities to describe a systematic approach to hyperlinking that emphasizes bidirectionality and verifiability. In a linkeken model, links between digital objects such as documents, datasets, or entities are not one-way pointers but part of a bi-directional network where the creation of a link automatically registers a reciprocal reference, enabling robust navigation, provenance tracking, and change propagation.

The term appears to combine the word link with the suffix ken, drawing on Germanic language patterns. The coinage emerged in discussions about scalable hypertext design in the late 2010s and early 2020s and is used primarily in experimental or theoretical projects rather than as a widely adopted standard.

From a technical standpoint, a linkeken-enabled system maintains link tables or graph databases that store both directions, supports link metadata such as creator, timestamp, and rationale, and includes integrity checks to detect broken or orphaned links. It may integrate with ontology systems to map nodes to concepts and supports user interfaces that reveal link provenance. Such systems aim to improve traceability, reproducibility, and the coherence of navigational paths across large document collections.

Adoption and criticism: there is no formal standard for linkeken, and its use remains largely within research prototypes and select CMS experiments. Proponents argue that bidirectional, verifiable links enhance reliability and scholarly citation networks; critics point to increased design complexity and potential performance costs.

See also: hypertext, bidirectional links, knowledge graph, provenance.