| Query Processing in a Multimedia Document System | | BIBAK | 1-41 | |
| Elisa Bertino; Fausto Rabitti; Simon Gibbs | |||
| Query processing in a multimedia document system is described. Multimedia
documents are information objects containing formatted data, text, image,
graphics, and voice. The query language is based on a conceptual document
model that allows the users to formulate queries on both document content and
structure. The architecture of the system is outlined, with focus on the
storage organization in which both optical and magnetic devices can coexist.
Query processing and the different strategies evaluated by our optimization
algorithm are discussed. Keywords: Database management, Logical design, Data models, Database management,
Languages, Query languages, Database management, Systems, Query processing,
Information storage and retrieval, Systems and software, Information systems
applications, Office automation, Algorithms, Design, Office document retrieval
systems, Query optimization | |||
| Implementing Ranking Strategies Using Text Signatures | | BIBAK | 42-62 | |
| W. Bruce Croft; Pasquale Savino | |||
| Signature files provide an efficient access method for text in documents,
but retrieval is usually limited to finding documents that contain a specified
Boolean pattern of words. Effective retrieval requires that documents with
similar meanings be found through a process of plausible inference. The
simplest way of implementing this retrieval process is to rank documents in
order of their probability of relevance. In this paper techniques are
described for implementing probabilistic ranking strategies with sequential and
bit-sliced signature files and the limitations of these implementations with
regard to their effectiveness are pointed out. A detailed comparison is made
between signature-based ranking techniques and ranking using term-based
document representatives and inverted files. The comparison shows that
term-based representations are at least competitive (in terms of efficiency)
with signature files and, in some situations, superior. Keywords: Database management, Physical design, Access methods, Information storage
and retrieval, Library automation, Information systems applications, Office
automation, Design, Performance, Document retrieval, Effectiveness, Information
retrieval, Probabilistic retrieval, Ranking strategy, Signature file, Text
retrieval | |||
| An Experimental Multimedia Mail System | | BIBAK | 63-81 | |
| Jonathan B. Postel; Gregory G. Finn; Alan R. Katz; Joyce K. Reynolds | |||
| A computer-based experimental multimedia mail system that allows the user to
read, create, edit, send, and receive messages containing text, images, and
voice is discussed. Keywords: Computer communication networks, Distributed systems, Distributed
applications, Software engineering, Tools and techniques, User interfaces,
Information systems applications, Communications applications, Electronic mail,
Text processing, Document preparation, Format and notation, Design,
Performance, ARPANET, Bitmap, Electronic mail, Facsimile, Image, Internet, Mail
protocol, Message system, Multimedia mail, Packet voice | |||
| The Language/Action Perspective | | BIB | 83-86 | |
| Terry Winograd | |||
| Bureaucracies as Deontic Systems | | BIBAK | 87-108 | |
| Ronald M. Lee | |||
| Bureaucratic offices are not only for clerical work, but more important,
they are for officiating in the sense of issuing directives, granting
permissions, enforcing prohibitions, waiving obligations, and so forth.
Bureaucracies are thus deontic systems for organizational and social control.
Conventional information processing approaches are inadequate for capturing
these aspects of bureaucratic modeling. A logic-based representation that
emphasizes deontic and performative aspects is proposed. Keywords: Information systems applications, Types of systems, Decision support (MIS),
Artificial intelligence, Knowledge representation formalisms and methods,
Predicate logic, Representations (procedural and rule-based), Computer
applications, Administrative data processing, Management of computing and
information systems, System management, Design, Languages, Management,
Bureaucracy, Deontic logic, Petri nets | |||
| Diplans: A New Language for the Study and Implementation of Coordination | | BIBAK | 109-125 | |
| Anatol W. Holt | |||
| In this paper the reader is introduced to coordination in the workplace as
an object of scientific study and computer automation. Diplans are the
expressions of a new graphical language used to describe plans of operation in
human organizations. With diplans, systems of constraint, which may or may not
take the form of procedure definitions, can be specified. Among the special
strengths of diplans is their ability to render explicit the interactive
aspects of complex work distributed over many people and places-in other words,
coordination. Diplans are central to coordination technology, a new approach
to developing support for cooperative work on heterogeneous computer networks. Keywords: Computer-communication networks, Distributed systems, Information systems
applications, Office automation, Information Systems applications,
Communications applications, Computers and society, Organizational impacts,
Design, Theory | |||
| A Speech-Act-Based Office Modeling Approach | | BIBAK | 126-152 | |
| Esa Auramaki; Erkki Lehtinen; Kalle Lyytinen | |||
| In this paper methods and principles that help to analyze offices as systems
of communicative action are explored. In communicative action, office agents
create commitments through symbolic means. A SAMPO (Speech-Act-based office
Modeling aPprOach), which studies office activities as a series of speech acts
creating, maintaining, modifying, reporting, and terminating commitments, is
presented. The main steps and methods in the office system specification are
outlined and their application illustrated through a simple example. In the
final section advantages and disadvantages in the SAMPO are noted and some
research directions for the future are suggested. Keywords: Software engineering, Requirements/specifications, Information systems
applications, Office automation, Information systems applications,
Communications applications, Artificial intelligence, Applications and expert
systems, Artificial intelligence, Natural language processing, Design, Human
factors, Discourse analysis, Office information system, Specification and
analysis, Speech act models | |||
| Computer Systems and the Design of Organizational Interaction | | BIBAK | 153-172 | |
| Fernando Flores; Michael Graves; Brad Hartfield; Terry Winograd | |||
| The goal of this paper is to relate theory to invention and application in
the design of systems for organizational communication and management. We
propose and illustrate a theory of design, technology, and action that we
believe has been missing in the mainstream of work on office systems. At the
center of our thinking is a theory of language as social action, which differs
from the generally taken-for-granted understandings of what goes on in an
organization. This approach has been presented elsewhere, and our aim here is
to examine its practical implications and assess its effectiveness in the
design of The Coordinator, a workgroup productivity system that is in
widespread commercial use on personal computers. Keywords: Information systems applications, Office automation, Information systems
application, Communications applications, Electronic mail, Design, Human
factors, Management, Conversation, Coordination, Language/action, Ontology,
Speech act, The Coordinator | |||
| Designing with the User | | BIB | 173-183 | |
| Lucy Suchman | |||
| VAGUE: A User Interface to Relational Databases that Permits Vague Queries | | BIBAK | 187-214 | |
| Amihai Motro | |||
| A specific query establishes a rigid qualification and is concerned only
with data that match it precisely. A vague query establishes a target
qualification and is concerned also with data that are close to this target.
Most conventional database systems cannot handle vague queries directly,
forcing their users to retry specific queries repeatedly with minor
modifications until they match data that are satisfactory. This article
describes a system called VAGUE that can handle vague queries directly. The
principal concept behind VAGUE is its extension to the relational data model
with data metrics, which are definitions of distances between values of the
same domain. A problem with implementing data distances is that different
users may have different interpretations for the notion of distance. VAGUE
incorporates several features that enable it to adapt itself to the individual
views and priorities of its users. Keywords: Database management, Logical design, Data models, Database management,
Languages, Query languages, Database management, Systems, Query processing,
Information storage and retrieval, Information search and retrieval, Retrieval
models, Design, Human factors, Languages, Approximate match retrieval,
Database, Data metric, Neighborhood query, Relational database, User interface,
Vague query | |||
| Knowledge-Based Tools to Promote Shared Goals and Terminology Between Interface Designers | | BIBAK | 215-231 | |
| Robert Neches | |||
| Two tools that support cooperation are described: one for the construction
of consistent and principled human-computer interfaces and the other for the
construction of AI knowledge bases. These tools provide a central repository
for design knowledge that otherwise would not be easily shared among users.
The AI knowledge representation technology upon which the tools are founded is
first described. A knowledge-based approach to interface construction is
discussed, and how that approach applies to detecting design conflicts and
inconsistencies stemming from two different kinds of team communication failure
is illustrated. Next, a knowledge acquisition aid that is utilized within the
interface construction paradigm and that also illustrates the same approach to
supporting cooperative work is described. Finally, four sources of difficulty
in team design efforts, which this approach seeks to address, are reviewed. Keywords: Software engineering, Programming teams, Artificial intelligence, Office
automation, Design, Cooperative work, Design tools, Knowledge bases, User
interfaces | |||
| A Rule-Based Message Filtering System | | BIBAK | 232-254 | |
| Stephen Pollock | |||
| Much computerized support for knowledge workers has consisted of tools to
handle low-level functions such as distribution, storage, and retrieval of
information. However, the higher level processes of making decisions and
taking actions with respect to this information have not been supported to the
same degree. This paper describes the ISCREEN prototype system for screening
text messages. ISCREEN includes a high-level interface for users to define
rules, a component that screens text messages, and a conflict detection
component that examines rules for inconsistencies. An explanation component
uses text generation to answer user queries about past or potential system
actions based on Grice's conversational maxims. Keywords: Information systems, User/machine systems, Human factors Information systems
applications, Communications applications, Electronic mail, Artificial
intelligence, Applications and expert systems, Office automation, Artificial
intelligence, Natural language processing, Language generation, Human factors,
Cooperative tools, Explanation systems, Intelligent interfaces, Text generation | |||
| Access to, Usage of, and Outcomes from an Electronic Messaging System | | BIBAK | 255-276 | |
| Ronald E. Rice; Douglas E. Shook | |||
| This study examines relationships among perceived accessibility to an
electronic messaging system (EMS), computer-monitored and reported usage of the
system by approximately 100 employees of one division of an aerospace firm,
user's job type, perceived appropriateness of the EMS, and reported outcomes
such as changes in effectiveness and use of paper-based media. Greater
accessibility resulted in more usage and reported increases in effectiveness.
Physical distance to a terminal affects the associations of other aspects of
accessibility with usage and has a greater influence on these associations
earlier in one's adoption process. Differences in job type showed
statistically significant associations with usage, independent of the influence
of accessibility. Computer-monitored and reported usage measures were only
moderately correlated and were differentially associated with the access
measures and with the two outcomes. The article ends by discussing
implications for implementation and evaluation of computer-based communication
systems, theories of media characteristics and information value, and
methodological issues in using computer-monitored usage data. Keywords: Computer system implementation, Miscellaneous, Information systems
applications, Communications applications, Electronic mail, Computers and
society, Organizational impacts, Management of computing and information
systems, Project and people management, Life cycle, Management of computing and
information systems, Installation management, Performance and usage
measurement, Management, Measurement, Performance, Accessibility, Communication
augmentation, Computer-monitored data, Media substitutability | |||
| Wireless Intraoffice Networks | | BIBAK | 277-302 | |
| K. Pahlavan | |||
| An overview of the existing and growing demands for wireless office
information networks is provided, and the existing research activities are
assessed in some detail. The radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR)
communication technologies are examined as candidates for wireless intraoffice
communications. The available bandwidths, according to federal regulations and
characteristics of the channel for RF communications, are given. Digital
narrow-band and wideband spread-spectrum RF communications are assessed in
terms of supportable data rate or number of simultaneous users in one cell of a
cellular architecture in an office environment. Various limitations of IR
communications are discussed and existing systems and architectures are
reviewed. Keywords: General literature, Introductory and survey, Computer-communication
networks, Network architecture and design, Packet networks,
Computer-communication networks, Local networks, Models and principles, Systems
and information theory, General systems theory, Information systems
applications, Office automation, Equipment, Design, Performance, Theory,
Cellular networks, Infrared networks, Optical networks, Radio networks, Spread
spectrum, Wireless networks | |||
| Selected Papers from the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW'88) | | BIB | none | |
| Irene Greif | |||
| gIBIS: A Hypertext Tool for Exploratory Policy Discussion | | BIBAK | 303-331 | |
| Jeff Conklin; Michael L. Begeman | |||
| This paper describes an application-specific hypertext system designed to
facilitate the capture of early design deliberations. It implements a specific
method, called Issue Based Information Systems (IBIS), which has been developed
for use on large, complex design problems. The hypertext system described
here, gIBIS (for graphical IBIS), makes use of color and a high-speed
relational database server to facilitate building and browsing typed IBIS
networks. Further, gIBIS is designed to support the collaborative construction
of these networks be any number of cooperating team members spread across a
local area network. Early experiments suggest that the IBIS method is still
incomplete, but there is a good match between the tool and method even in this
experimental version. Keywords: Software engineering, Requirements/specifications, Methodologies, Tools,
Software engineering, Tools and techniques, Models and principles, General,
Models and principles, User/machine systems, Information systems applications,
Type of systems, Decision support (e.g., MIS), Information systems
applications, Communications applications, Administrative data processing,
Design, Documentation, Management, Issue-based information systems, Planning | |||
| Object Lens: A "Spreadsheet" for Cooperative Work | | BIBAK | 332-353 | |
| Kum-Yew Lai; Thomas W. Malone; Keh-Chiang Yu | |||
| Object Lens allows unsophisticated computer users to create their own
cooperative work applications using a set of simple, but powerful, building
blocks. By defining and modifying templates for various semistructured
objects, users can represent information about people, tasks, products,
messages, and many other kinds of information in a form that can be processed
intelligently by both people and their computers. By collecting these objects
in customizable folders, users can create their own displays which summarize
selected information from the objects in table or tree formats. Finally, by
creating semiautonomous agents, users can specify rules for automatically
processing this information in different ways at different times.
The combination of these primitives provides a single consistent interface that integrates facilities for object-oriented databases, hypertext, electronic messaging, and rule-based intelligent agents. To illustrate the power of this combined approach, we describe several simple examples of applications (such as task tracking, intelligent message routing, and database retrieval that we have developed in this framework. Keywords: Models and principles, User/machine systems, Database management, Logical
design, Data models, Schema and subschema, Database management, Languages, Data
description languages (DDL), Database management, Systems, Distributed systems,
Information storage and retrieval, Content analysis and indexing, Information
storage and retrieval, Systems and software, Information systems applications,
Office automation, Information systems applications, Communications
applications, Artificial intelligence, Applications and expert systems, Office
automation, Artificial intelligence, Knowledge representation formalisms and
methods, Frames and scripts, Representations, Text processing, Document
preparation, Format and notation, Design, Economics, Human factors, Management,
Computer-supported cooperative work, Hypertext, Information Lens, Intelligent
agents, Object-oriented databases, Semiformal systems | |||
| Work Group Structures and Computer Support: A Field Experiment | | BIBAK | 354-379 | |
| J. D. Eveland; T. K. Bikson | |||
| It is frequently suggested that work groups that have computer technology to
support activities such as text editing, data manipulation, and communication
develop systematically different structures and working processes from groups
that rely on more conventional technologies such as memos, phone calls, and
meetings. However, cross-sectional or retrospective research designs to do not
allow this hypothesis to be tested with much power. This field experiment
created two task forces, each composed equally of recently retired employees
and employees still at work but eligible to retire. They were given the
identical tasks of preparing reports for their company on retirement planning
issues, but they were randomly assigned to different technology conditions.
One group had full conventional office support; the other had, in addition,
networked microcomputers with electronic mail and routine office software.
Structured interviews were conducted four times during the year-long project;
in addition, electronic mail activity was logged in the on-line group.
Although both groups produced effective reports, the two differed significantly
in the kind of work they produced, the group structures that emerged, and
evaluations of their own performance. Although the standard group was largely
dominated by the employees through the extensive reliance on informal meetings,
the electronic technology used by the other task force allowed the retirees to
exercise primary leverage. We conclude that use of computer support for
cooperative work results in both quantitative and qualitative changes but that
effective participation in such electronically supported groups requires
significant investments of time and energy on the part of its members to master
the technology and a relatively high level of assistance during the learning
process. Keywords: Information systems applications, Communications applications, Electronic
mail, Computers and society, Social issues, Employment, Computers and society,
Organizational impacts, Experimentation, Human factors, Management,
Communication, Computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW), Group processes,
Social structures | |||
| Diversity in the Use of Electronic Mail: A Preliminary Inquiry | | BIBAK | 380-397 | |
| Wendy E. Mackay | |||
| This paper describes a series of interviews that examine the ways that
professional office workers use electronic mail to manage their daily work.
The purpose is to generate hypotheses for future research. A number of
implications for the design of flexible mail systems are discussed.
Two principal claims are made. First, the use of electronic mail is strikingly diverse, although not infinitely so. Individuals vary both in objective measures of mail use and in preferred strategies for managing work electronically. Feelings of control are similarly diverse and related to the size of the user's inbox, numbers of folders, and subscriptions to distribution lists. This diversity implies that one's own experiences with electronic mail are unlikely to provide sufficient understanding of other's uses of mail. Mail designers should thus seek flexible primitives that capture the important dimensions of use and provide flexibility for a wide range of users. The second claim is that electronic mail is more than just a communication system. Users archive messages for subject retrieval, prioritize messages to sequence work activities, and delegate tasks via mail. A taxonomy of work management is proposed in which mail is used for information management, time management, and task management activities. Directions for future research are suggested. Keywords: Information systems applications, Electronic mail, Human factors,
Management, Computer-supported cooperative work, Electronic mail, Information
filtering, Information Lens, Task management, Time management | |||
| Guided Tours and Tabletops: Tools for Communicating in a Hypertext Environment | | BIBAK | 398-414 | |
| Randall H. Trigg | |||
| The author of a complex hypertext document is often faced with the problem
of conveying the document's meaning to future readers through a shared computer
environment. Two tools implemented in the NoteCards hypertext environment,
guided tours and tabletops, allow authors to employ annotation, graphic layout,
and ordered presentation when communicating to readers. This paper describes
these tools and gives examples of their use. Issues of remote pointing arising
from an application in legal argumentation are discussed as well as early work
on the use of these tools to support sharing of hypertext strategies among
NoteCards users. Keywords: Models and principles, User/machine systems, Human factors, Information
systems applications, Types of systems, Text processing, Miscellaneous, Design,
Experimentation, Human factors, Collaborative work, Hypermedia, Hypertext | |||