Article Where is information visualization technology going? Share on Authors: Mountaz Hascoët-Zizi LRI - Bât 490- Université Paris-Sud, 91 405 ORSAY Cedex - France LRI - Bât 490- Université Paris-Sud, 91 405 ORSAY Cedex - FranceView Profile , Chris Ahlberg IVEE - Chalmers University IVEE - Chalmers UniversityView Profile , Robert Korfhage Pittsburgh University Pittsburgh UniversityView Profile , Catherine Plaisant A.V. Williams Building, University of Maryland, College Park, MD A.V. Williams Building, University of Maryland, College Park, MDView Profile , Matthew Chalmers UBILAB UBILABView Profile , Ramana Rao Xerox Parc Xerox ParcView Profile Authors Info & Claims UIST '96: Proceedings of the 9th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technologyNovember 1996 Pages 75–77https://doi.org/10.1145/237091.237101Online:01 November 1996Publication History 3citation641DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations3Total Downloads641Last 12 Months9Last 6 weeks1 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

ABSTRACT This paper offers new principles for visual information seeking (VIS). A key concept is to support browsing, which is distinguished from familiar query composition and information retrieval because of its emphasis on rapid filtering to reduce result sets, progressive refinement of search parameters, continuous reformulation of goals, and visual scanning to identify results. VIS principles developed include: dynamic query filters (query parameters are rapidly adjusted with sliders, buttons, maps, etc.), starfield displays (two-dimensional scatterplots to structure result sets and zooming to reduce clutter), and tight coupling (interrelating query components to preserve display invariants and support progressive refinement combined with an emphasis on using search output to foster search input). A FilmFinder prototype using a movie database demonstrates these principles in a VIS environment.

Research has suggested that rapid, serial, visual presentation of text (RSVP) may be an effective way to scan and search through lists of text strings in search of words, names, etc. The Alphaslider widget employs RSVP as a method for rapidly scanning and searching lists or menus in a graphical user interface environment. The Alphaslider only uses an area less than 7 cm x 2.5 cm. The tiny size of the Alphaslider allows it to be placed on a credit card, on a control panel for a VCR, or as a widget in a direct manipulation based database interface. An experiment was conducted with four Alphaslider designs which showed that novice Alphaslider users could locate one item in a list of 10,000 film titles in 24 seconds on average, an expert user in about 13 seconds.

We designed, implemented and evaluated a new concept for direct manipulation of databases, called dynamic queries, that allows users to formulate queries with graphical widgets, such as sliders. By providing a graphical visualization of the database and search results, users can find trends and exceptions easily. Eighteen undergraduate chemistry students performed statistically significantly faster using a dynamic queries interface compared to two interfaces both providing form fill-in as input method, one with graphical visualization output and one with all-textual output. The interfaces were used to explore the periodic table of elements and search on their properties.

No abstract available.