This paper discusses the impact of an adaptive prototype in-car communication system (ICCS), called MIMI (Multimodal Interface for Mobile Info-communication), on driver distraction. Existing ICCSs attempt to minimise the visual and manual distraction, but more research needs to be done to reduce cognitive distraction. MIMI was designed to address usability and safety issues with existing ICCSs. Few ICCSs available today consider the driver's context in the design of the user interface. An adaptive user interface (AUI) was designed and integrated into a conventional dialogue system in order to prevent the driver from receiving calls and sending text messages under high distraction conditions. The current distraction level is detected by a neural network using the driving speed and steering wheel angle of the car as inputs. An adaptive version of MIMI was compared to a non-adaptive version in a user study conducted using a simple driving simulator. The results obtained showed that the adaptive version provided several usability and safety benefits, including reducing the cognitive load, and that the users preferred the adaptive version.

Many network monitoring tools do not provide sufficiently in-depth and useful reports on network usage, particularly in the domain of application services data. Application services form an integral part of organizational networks. The optimization of the performance of these networks is only possible if the networks are effectively monitored. Techniques that identify patterns of network usage can assist in the successful monitoring of network performance. The focus of this paper is on the development of a visual data mining prototype, called NetPatterns, which facilitates the effective visualization of network performance data.

Existing Web usage mining (WUM) tools do not indicate which data mining algorithms are used or provide effective graphical visualizations of the results obtained. WUM techniques can be used to determine typical navigation patterns in an organizational Web site. The process of combining WUM and information visualization techniques in order to discover useful information about Web usage patterns is called visual Web mining. The goal of this paper is to discuss the development of a visual Web mining prototype, called WebPatterns, which allows the user to effectively visualize Web usage patterns

The visualisation of large information collections is a common problem which has been extensively researched in many domains. Several application domains still exist, however, where visualisation techniques have not been adequately researched or applied. The aim of this paper is to discuss research into visualisation tools for two such areas, namely genealogical information systems and network application management. Genealogical information systems are concerned with providing facilities for storing and browsing family information. Network application management is concerned with providing facilities to manage the performance of network application services. Whilst these two domains are vastly different, the visualisation requirements are very similar. This paper shows how the interactive visualisation tools developed can be used to facilitate effective exploration and browsing of this information.