| DAIDA: An Environment for Evolving Information Systems | | BIBAK | PDF | 1-50 | |
| M. Jarke; J. Mylopoulos; J. W. Schmidt; Y. Vassiliou | |||
| We present a framework for the development of information systems based on
the premise that the knowledge that influences the development process needs to
somehow be captured, represented, and managed if the development process is to
be rationalized. Experiences with a prototype environment developed in ESPRIT
project DAIDA demonstrate the approach. The project has implemented an
environment based on state-of-the-art languages for requirements modeling,
design and implementation of information systems. In addition, the environment
offers tools for aiding the mapping process from requirements to design and
then to implementation, also for representing decisions reached during the
development process. The development process itself is represented explicitly
within the system, thus making the DAIDA development framework easier to
comprehend, use, and modify. Keywords: Software engineering, Requirements/specifications, Software engineering,
Tools and techniques, Computer-aided software engineering (CASE), Software
engineering, Management, Software quality assurance (SQA), Programming
languages, Language classifications, Design languages, Database management,
Logical design, Database management, Languages, Database programming languages,
Database management, Database administration, Data dictionary, Artificial
intelligence, Knowledge representation formalisms and methods, Representation
languages, Management of computing and information systems, Software
management, Software maintenance, Design, Languages, Management, Knowledge
engineering, Mapping assistant, Multilevel specification, Repository, Software
information system, Software process model | |||
| Principles of Delay-Sensitive Multimedia Data Storage and Retrieval | | BIBAK | PDF | 51-90 | |
| Jim Gemmell; Stavros Christodoulakis | |||
| This paper establishes some fundamental principles for the retrieval and
storage of delay-sensitive multimedia data. Delay-sensitive data include
digital audio, animations, and video. Retrieval of these data types from
secondary storage has to satisfy certain time constraints in order to be
acceptable to the user. The presentation is based on digital audio in order to
provide intuition to the reader, although the results are applicable to all
delay-sensitive data. A theoretical framework is developed for the real-time
requirements of digital audio playback. We show how to describe these
requirements in terms of the consumption rate of the audio data and the nature
of the data-retrieval rate from secondary storage. Making use of this
framework, bounds are derived for buffer space requirements for certain common
retrieval scenarios. Storage placement strategies for multichannel
synchronized data are then categorized and examined. The results presented in
this paper are basic to any playback of delay-sensitive data and should assist
the multimedia system designer in estimating hardware requirements and in
evaluating possible design choices. Keywords: Information storage and retrieval, Information storage, Information storage
and retrieval, Information search and retrieval, Retrieval models, Information
interfaces and presentation, Multimedia information systems, Animations, Audio
input/output, Video (e.g., tape, disk, DVI), Design, Performance, Continuous
media, Delay-sensitive, Real time | |||
| The Active Badge Location System | | BIBAK | PDF | 91-102 | |
| Roy Want; Andy Hopper; Veronica Falcao; Jonathan Gibbons | |||
| A novel system for the location of people in an office environment is
described. Members of staff wear badges that transmit signals providing
information about their location to a centralized location service, through a
network of sensors. The paper also examines alternative location techniques,
system design issues and applications, particularly relating to telephone call
routing. Location systems raise concerns about the privacy of an individual,
and these issues are also addressed. Keywords: Input/output and data communications, Data communications devices, Receivers
(e.g., voice, data, image), Transmitters, Information systems applications,
Office automation, Equipment, Time management (e.g., calendars, schedules),
Information systems applications, Communications applications, Management of
computing and information systems, Security and protection, Design,
Experimentation, Human factors, Active badges, Location systems, PBX, Privacy
issues, Tagging systems | |||
| Consistency, Standards, and Formal Approaches to Interface Development and Evaluation: A Note on Wiecha, Bennett, Boies, Gould, and Greene | | BIB | PDF | 103-111 | |
| Jonathan Grudin | |||
| ITS and User Interface Consistency: A Response to Grudin | | BIB | PDF | 112-114 | |
| Charles Wiecha | |||
| Lexical Ambiguity and Information Retrieval | | BIBAK | PDF | 115-141 | |
| Robert Krovetz; W. Bruce Croft | |||
| Lexical ambiguity is a pervasive problem in natural language processing.
However, little quantitative information is available about the extent of the
problem or about the impact that it has on information retrieval systems. We
report on an analysis of lexical ambiguity in information retrieval test
collections and on experiments to determine the utility of word meanings for
separating relevant from nonrelevant documents. The experiments show that
there is considerable ambiguity even in a specialized database. Word senses
provide a significant separation between relevant and nonrelevant documents,
but several factors contribute to determining whether disambiguation will make
an improvement in performance. For example, resolving lexical ambiguity was
found to have little impact on retrieval effectiveness for documents that have
many words in common with the query. Other uses of word sense disambiguation
in an information retrieval context are discussed. Keywords: Information storage and retrieval, Content analysis and indexing,
Dictionaries, Indexing methods, Linguistic processing, Information storage and
retrieval, Information search and retrieval, Search process, Selection process,
Artificial intelligence, Natural language processing, Text analysis,
Experimentation, Measurement, Performance, Disambiguation, Document retrieval,
Semantically based search, Word senses | |||
| Structural Analysis of Hypertexts: Identifying Hierarchies and Useful Metrics | | BIBAK | PDF | 142-180 | |
| Rodrigo A. Botafogo; Ehud Rivlin; Ben Shneiderman | |||
| Hypertext users often suffer from the "lost in hyperspace" problem:
disorientation from too many jumps while traversing a complex network. One
solution to this problem is improved authoring to create more comprehensible
structures. This paper proposes several authoring tools, based on hypertext
structure analysis.
In many hypertext systems authors are encouraged to create hierarchical structures, but when writing, the hierarchy is lost because of the inclusion of cross-reference links. The first part of this paper looks at ways of recovering lost hierarchies and finding new ones, offering authors different views of the same hypertext. The second part helps authors by identifying properties of the hypertext document. Multiple metrics are developed including compactness and stratum. Compactness indicates the intrinsic connectedness of the hypertext, and stratum reveals to what degree the hypertext is organized so that some nodes must be read before others. Several existing hypertexts are used to illustrate the benefits of each technique. The collection of techniques provides a multifaceted view of the hypertext, which should allow authors to reduce undesired structural complexity and create documents that readers can traverse more easily. Keywords: Information systems, Information interfaces and presentation, Information
storage and retrieval, General, Design, Documentation, Human factors,
Measurement, Graph theory, Hierarchies, Hypertext, Metrics, Networks,
Structural analysis | |||
| Getting Around the Task-Artifact Cycle: How to Make Claims and Design by Scenario | | BIBAK | PDF | 181-212 | |
| John M. Carroll; Mary Beth Rosson | |||
| We are developing an "action science" approach to human-computer interaction
(HCI), seeking to better integrate activities directed at understanding with
those directed at design. The approach leverages development practices of
current HCI with methods and concepts to support a shift toward using broad and
explicit design rationale to reify where we are in a design process, why we are
there, and to guide reasoning about where we might go from there. We represent
a designed artifact as the set of user scenarios supported by that artifact and
more finely by causal schemas detailing the underlying psychological rationale.
These schemas, called claims, unpack wherefores and whys of the scenarios. In
this paper, we stand back from several empirical projects to clarify our
commitments and practices. Keywords: Software engineering, Requirements/specifications, Methodologies, Tools,
Software engineering, Tools and techniques, Models and principles, General,
Models and principles, User/machine systems, Human factors, Design,
Documentation, Human factors, Design rationale, Planning, User interfaces | |||
| Shortening the OED: Experience with a Grammar-Defined Database | | BIBAK | PDF | 213-232 | |
| G. Elizabeth Blake; Tim Bray; Frank Wm. Tompa | |||
| Textual databases with highly variable structure can be usefully described
by a grammar-defined model. One example of such a text is the Oxford English
Dictionary. This paper describes a first attempt to apply technology based on
this model to a real problem. A language called GOEDEL, which is a partial
implementation of a set of grammar-defined database operators, was used to
extract and alter a subset of the OED in order to assist the editors in their
production of The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. The implementation of the
pstring data structure to describe a piece of text and the functions that
operate on this pstring are illustrated with some detailed examples. The
project was judged a success and the resulting program used in production by
the Oxford University Press. Keywords: Programming languages, Language classification, Specialized application
languages, Database management, Database applications, Computing methodologies,
Text processing, Computer applications, Computers in other systems, Publishing,
Design, Human factors, Languages, Grammar defined model, Parsed string, Text
database | |||
| The Envoy Framework: An Open Architecture for Agents | | BIBAK | PDF | 233-264 | |
| Murugappan Palaniappan; Nicole Yankelovich; George Fitzmaurice; Anne Loomis; Bernard Haan; James Coombs; Norman Meyrowitz | |||
| The Envoy Framework addresses a need for computer-based assistants or agents
that operate in conjunction with users' existing applications, helping them
perform tedious, repetitive, or time-consuming tasks more easily and
efficiently. Envoys carry out missions for users by invoking envoy-aware
applications called operatives and inform users of mission results via
envoy-aware applications called informers. The distributed, open architecture
developed for Envoys is derived from an analysis of the best characteristics of
existing agent systems. This architecture has been designed as a model for how
agent technology can be seamlessly integrated into the electronic desktop. It
defines a set of application programmer's interfaces so that developers may
convert their software to envoy-aware applications. A subset of the
architecture described in this paper has been implemented in an Envoy Framework
prototype. Keywords: Introduction and survey, Computer-communication networks, Distributed
systems, Distributed applications, Software engineering, Tools and techniques,
Software libraries, Models and principles, User/machine systems, Human factors,
Information storage and retrieval, Systems and software, Current awareness
systems (selective dissemination of information -- SDI), Information systems
applications, Office automation, Management of computing and information
systems, Software management, Software development, Design, Human factors,
Management, Application programmer interface, User agent | |||
| Conceptual Learning in Database Design | | BIBAK | PDF | 265-293 | |
| Yannis E. Ioannidis; Tomas Saulys; Andrew J. Whitsitt | |||
| This paper examines the idea of incorporating machine learning algorithms
into a database system for monitoring its stream of incoming queries and
generating hierarchies with the most important concepts expressed in those
queries. The goal is for these hierarchies to provide valuable input to the
database administrator for dynamically modifying the physical and external
schemas of a database for improved system performance and user productivity.
The criteria for choosing the appropriate learning algorithms are analyzed, and
based on them, two such algorithms, UNIMEM and COBWEB, are selected as the most
suitable ones for the task. Standard UNIMEM and COBWEB implementations have
been modified to support queries as input. Based on the results of experiments
with these modified implementations, the whole approach appears to be quite
promising, especially if the concept hierarchy from which the learning
algorithms start their processing is initiated with some of the most obvious
concepts captured in the database. Keywords: Database management, Logical design, Data models, Schema and subschema,
Database management, Physical design, Access methods, Database management,
Database administration, Artificial intelligence, Learning, Concept learning,
Algorithms, Design, Management, Performance, Adaptive database systems,
Learning from examples, COBWEB,/UNIMEM | |||
| Converting a Textbook to Hypertext | | BIBAK | PDF | 294-315 | |
| Roy Rada | |||
| Traditional documents may be transformed into hypertext by first reflecting
the document's logical markup in the hypertext (producing first-order
hypertext) and then by adding links not evident in the document markup
(producing second-order hypertext). In our transformation of a textbook to
hypertext, the textbook is placed in an intermediate form based on a semantic
net and is then placed into the four hypertext systems: Emacs-Info, Guide,
HyperTies, and SuperBook. The first-order Guide and SuperBook hypertexts
reflect a depth-first traversal of the semantic net, and the Emacs-Info and
HyperTies hypertexts reflect a breadth-first traversal. The semantic net is
augmented manually, and then new traversal programs automatically generate
alternate outlines. An index based on word patterns in the textbook is also
automatically generated for the second-order hypertext. Our suite of programs
has been applied to a published textbook, and the resulting hypertexts are
publicly available. Keywords: Models and principles, User/machine systems, Information storage and
retrieval, Information storage, Information systems applications, General, Text
processing, Document preparation, Design, Human factors, Theory, Document
markup, Electronic publishing, Human-computer interaction, Hypermedia models | |||
| User Interface Software and Technology | | BIB | 317-319 | |
| Jock Mackinlay; Jim Rhyne | |||
| Lessons Learned from SUIT, the Simple User Interface Toolkit | | BIBAK | PDF | 320-344 | |
| Randy Pausch; Matthew Conway; Robert DeLine | |||
| In recent years, the computer science community has realized the advantages
of GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces). Because high-quality GUIs are difficult
to build, support tools such as UIMSs, UI Toolkits, and Interface Builders have
been developed. Although these tools are powerful, they typically make two
assumptions: first, that the programmer has some familiarity with the GUI
model, and second, that he is willing to invest several weeks becoming
proficient with the tool. These tools typically operate only on specific
platforms, such as DOS, the Macintosh, or UNIX/X-windows.
The existing tools are beyond the reach of most undergraduate computer science majors, or professional programmers who wish to quickly build GUIs without investing the time to become specialists in GUI design. For this class of users, we developed SUIT, the Simple User Interface Toolkit. SUIT is an attempt to distill the fundamental components of an interface builder and GUI toolkit, and to explain those concepts with the tool itself, all in a short period of time. We have measured that college juniors with no previous GUI programming experience can use SUIT productively after less than three hours. SUIT is a C subroutine library which provides an external control UIMS, an interactive layout editor, and a set of standard "widgets," such as sliders, buttons, and check boxes. SUIT-based applications run transparently across the Macintosh, DOS, and UNIX/X platforms. SUIT has been exported to hundreds of external sites on the internet. This paper describes SUIT's architecture, the design decisions we made during its development, and the lessons we learned from extensive observations of over 120 users. Keywords: Software engineering, Tools and techniques, Software libraries, User
interfaces, Software engineering, Programming environments, Interactive,
Software engineering, Miscellaneous, Rapid prototyping, Reusable software,
Computer graphics, Graphics utilities, Application packages, Graphics packages,
Software support, Computer graphics, Methodology and techniques, Device
independence, Interaction techniques, Computers and education, Computer and
information science education, Computer science education, Experimentation,
Design, Human factors, Export, Graphical user interface, GUI, Learnability,
Pedagogy, Portability, Rapid prototyping, Software tools, UIMS, User interface
toolkit | |||
| A High-Level and Flexible Framework for Implementing Multiuser User Interfaces | | BIBAK | PDF | 345-380 | |
| Prasun Dewan; Rajiv Choudhary | |||
| We have developed a high-level and flexible framework for supporting the
construction of multiuser user interfaces. The framework is based on a
generalized editing interaction model, which allows users to view programs as
active data that can be concurrently edited by multiple users. It consists of
several novel components including a refinement of both the Seeheim UIMS
architecture and the distributed graphics architecture that explicitly
addresses multiuser interaction; the abstractions of shared active variables
and interaction variables, which allow users and applications to exchange
information; a set of default collaboration rules designed to keep the
collaboration-awareness low in multiuser programs; and a small but powerful set
of primitives for overriding these rules. The framework allows users to be
dynamically added and removed from a multiuser session, different users to use
different user interfaces to interact with an application, the modules
interacting with a particular user to execute on the local workstation, and
programmers to incrementally trade automation for flexibility. We have
implemented the framework as part of a system called Suite. This paper
motivates, describes, and illustrates the framework using the concrete example
of Suite, discusses how it can be implemented in others kinds of systems,
compares it with related work, discusses its shortcomings, and suggests
directions for future work. Keywords: Computer-communication networks, Distributed systems, Distributed
applications, Distributed databases, Software engineering, Tools and
techniques, User interfaces, Software engineering, Programming environments,
Interactive, Programming languages, Language constructs, Input/output, Models
and principles, User/machine systems, Human factors, Information systems
applications, Office automation, Text processing, Text editing, Design, Human
factors, Languages, Computer-supported cooperative work, Groupware, Editing,
User interface management systems | |||
| EmbeddedButtons: Supporting Buttons in Documents | | BIBAK | PDF | 381-407 | |
| Eric A. Bier | |||
| EmbeddedButtons is a library of routines and a runtime kernel that support
the integration of buttons into document media, including text and graphics.
Existing document editors can be modified to participate in this open
architecture with the addition of a few simple routines. Unlike many button
systems that insert special button objects into document media, this system
supports turning existing documents objects into buttons. As a consequence,
buttons inherit all of the attributes of normal document objects, and the
appearance of buttons can be edited using operations already familiar to users.
Facilities are provided for linking buttons to application windows so that
documents can serve as application control panels. Hence, user interface
designers can lay out control panels using familiar document editors rather
than special-purpose tools. Three classes of buttons have been implemented,
including buttons that pop up a menu and buttons that store and display the
value of a variable. New button classes, editors, and applications can be
added at run time. Two editors, one for text and one for graphics, currently
participate in the architecture. Keywords: Software engineering, Miscellaneous, Rapid prototyping, Models and
principles, User/machine systems, Human factors, Computer graphics, Methodology
and techniques, Interaction techniques, Text processing, Text editing, Human
factors, Active documents, Buttons, User interface layout | |||
| A General Framework for Bidirectional Translation between Abstract and Pictorial Data | | BIBAK | PDF | 408-437 | |
| Satoshi Matsuoka; Shin Takahashi; Tomihisa Kamada; Akinori Yonezawa | |||
| The merits of direct manipulation are now widely recognized. However,
direct manipulation interfaces incur high cost in their creation. To cope with
this problem, we present a model of bidirectional translation between pictures
and abstract application data, and a prototype system, TRIP2, based on this
model. Using this model, general mapping from abstract data to pictures and
from pictures to abstract data is realized merely by giving declarative mapping
rules, allowing fast and easy creation of direct manipulation interfaces. We
apply the prototype system to the generation of the interfaces for kinship
diagrams, Graph Editors, E-R diagrams, and an Othello game. Keywords: Software engineering, Tools and techniques, User interfaces, Models and
principles, User/machine systems, Human information processing, Algorithms,
Design, Experimentation, Human factors, Bidirectional translation, Direct
manipulation, User interface, User interface management systems, Visualization | |||
| A Model for Input and Output for Multilingual Text in a Windowing Environment | | BIBAK | PDF | 438-451 | |
| Yutaka Kataoka; Masato Morisaki; Hiroshi Kuribayashi; Hiroyoshi Ohara | |||
| The layered multilingual input/output (I/O) system we designed, based on
typological studies of major-language writing conventions, unifies common
features of such conventions to enable international and local utilization.
The internationalization layer input module converts keystroke sequences to
phonograms and ideograms. The corresponding output module displays
position-independent and dependent characters. The localization layer
positions language-specific functions outside the structure, integrating them
as tables used by finite automaton interpreters and servers to add new
languages and code sets without recompilation.
The I/O system generates and displays stateful and stateless code sets, enabling interactive language switching. Going beyond POSIX locale model bounds, the system generates ISO 2022, ISO/DIS 10646 (1990), and Compound Text, defined for the interchange encoding format in X11 protocols, for basic polyglot text communication and processing. Able to generate multilingual code sets, the I/O system clearly demonstrates that code sets should be selected by applications which have purposes beyond selecting one element from a localization set. Functionality and functions related to text manipulation in an operating system (OS) must also be determined by such applications. A subset of this I/O system was implemented in the X window system as a basic use of X11R5 I/O by supplying basic code set generation and string manipulation to eliminate OS interference. To ensure polyglot string manipulation, the I/O system must clearly be implemented separately from an OS and its limitations. Keywords: Computer-communication networks, Distributed systems, Distributed
applications, Operating systems, Communications management, Input/output,
Computer graphics, Graphic systems, Distributed / network graphic, Text
processing, Document preparation, Language and systems, Design,
Standardization, Internationalization, Input method, Input/output, Linguistics,
Localization, Multilingual, Multiwindow, Output method, X window systems | |||