Features
Scenario
Technical
Future
Resources
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Features
Scenario
Technical
Future
Resources
Contact
|
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PapersResearch Papers Resulting from CVIM ProgramLucas, P.& Roth, S. F. "Exploring Information with Visage." In Video Proceedings of the Association of Computing Machinery CHI '96 Conference, Vancouver, April 1996.Roth, S. A., Lucas, P., Senn, J. A., Gomberg, C. C., Burks, M. B., Stroffolino, P., J., Kolojejchick, J. A., & Dunmire, C. "Visage: A User Interface Environment for Exploring Information." Proceedings of Information Visualization, IEEE, San Francisco, October 1996, pp. 3-12. Kolojejchick, J. A., Roth, S. F., & Lucas, P. "Information Appliances and Tools in Visage." IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Volume 17, Number 4, July/August 1997, pp. 32-41. Roth, S.F., Chuah, M.C., Kerpedjiev, S., Kolojejchick, J.A., & Lucas, P. "Towards an Information Visualization Workspace: Combining Multiple Means of Expression." Human-Computer Interaction Journal, Volume 12, numbers 1 & 2, 1997, pp. 131-185. Lucas, P. "The Trillion-Node Network." 1999 MAYA Technical Report. MAYA Document #MTR-00001. Lucas, P. "Pervasive Information Access and the Rise of Human-Information Interaction." CHI 2000 Abstract. MAYA Document #MAYA-000001. Higgins, M. "VisageWeb: Visualizing WWW Data in Visage." Proceedings of the 1999 IEEE Symposium on Information Visualization, October 24-29, 1999, p. 100-107. Other PapersTaming Complexity at MAYA DesignAn overview of MAYA's techniques for facilitating interdisciplinary design. Visage: Dynamic Information Exploration This paper was the companion piece to a hands-on demonstration of Visage. Information-Centric User InterfacesThe Visage user-interface paradigm takes an aggressively information-centric approach to the presentation of information. The information-centric approach is the next logical step along the path from application-centric architectures to the modern document-centric approach. The distinctions among the three approaches hinge on differences in the "basic currency" through which the users interact with the system.In application-centric architectures, the basic currency is the file. With the introduction of graphical user interfaces and the desktop metaphor, files became concrete visual objects, directly manipulable by the user, storable on the desktop or in folders, and--to a limited extent--arrangable by users and software in semantically meaningful ways. But the contents of those files were still out of direct reach of the user. With the document-centric interface paradigm, the basic currency is no longer the file, but the document. The application's role is subordinated and the user focuses on direct manipulation of documents; users can almost literally "get their hands on" their documents. The information-centric approach represented in Visage is a natural continuation of these trends. Visage abandons the primacy of the document wrapper as the central focus of user interaction in favor of the data element as the basic currency of the interface. Visage permits direct drag-and-drop manipulation of data elements at any level of granularity. A numeric entry in a table, selected bars from a bar chart, and a complex presentation graphic are all first-class candidates for user manipulation. Hints of this approach may be found in a few existing interfaces; recent versions of Microsoft Word support the ability of the user to drag selected text from one place in the document to another. In Visage, this capability is promoted from a special-purpose feature to a capability that can be used everywhere in the environment.
Development MethodologyVisage has been created using a GUI authoring system developed at MAYA Design Group. The underlying system (called SAGA) provides a basic set of GUI elements that can be completely customized and controlled by a scripting language. SAGA, while similar to HyperCard or Visual Basic, differs in that it provides a radically simple and orthogonal object approach to building a GUI.
SAGA, which has been developed in C++, currently runs on most Unix
(X-windows) systems and the Macintosh. A Microsoft Windows version is in development. |
