What, where and whence: means for improving electronic data access.
✍ Scribed by F.L. Engel; J.J. Andriessen; H.J.R. Schmitz
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1983
- Weight
- 912 KB
- Volume
- 18
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0020-7373
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
With current electronic retrieval systems (e.g. Viewdata), casual users often have difficulties in finding the desired items, and so tend to "get lost" in the retrieval structure. This paper describes an experimental set-up which aims at avoiding that drawback by making the selection procedure less sequential, by visualizing the retrieval structure and by recording the successive choices made for possible later consultation by the user.
For that purpose, the set-up contains a second display, provided with a touch input. It visualizes the relevant part of the retrieval network and continuously shows "WHERE" the user is in that structure, viz. where "WHAT", presented on the main display, is situated. The touch input enables the user to indicate on the displayed structure what has to be presented next.
The history facility, a consultable list of the user's earlier selections, helps him to remember "WHENCE" (i.e. from what place) in the structure he came.
By offering the possibility to mark items in the history, an immediate return to an earlier marked item is ensured. This marking also enables certain items to be grouped for comparison afterwards.
As examples of the possibilities of the system, two applications are described, the first concerned with education and the second with recreational information.
First opinions about the system are favourable. Its features need to be evaluated thoroughly, however, for further progress in this field of man-machine communication.