Navigating content – not quite Hollywood
| improving ways to navigate online content | |
| is there a middle ground between current textual / list type interfaces versus the immersive 3d (cool) interfaces of Hollywood? | |
| from feedback received, it seems like many people are seeking better navigation tools and interfaces | |
| experience from cartography can help | |
| examine the potential of information mapping | |
| much information seeking is haphazard, ill-defined. May not know exactly what you are looking for. Iterative and fluid. Exploration. | |
| Scanning – covering a large area quickly and without depth | |
| Browsing – following an undirected path by associations until you find something of interest | |
| Searching – looking for an explicit target | |
| Exploring – finding out the full extent and diversity of what is available | |
| Wandering – random and unstructured movement without purpose | |
| maps have been powerful visual interfaces for understanding the World for several 1000 years | |
| maps have been key in framing our understanding places, their size, shape and the relations between them | |
| ‘what is where’ and ‘how to get there’ | |
| revealing what is hidden. Making the invisible visible | |
| maps have been vital for navigating unknown territory | |
| I’m a geographer, so I believe maps enjoy a privileged position over other descriptive tools |
| information maps for content navigation | ||
| wide variety of ‘experiments’ / products | ||
| visual metaphors | ||
| dimension (2D, 2.5D, 3D) | ||
| static - dynamic | ||
| levels of user interactivity | ||
| scales of maps | ||
| individual site maps | ||
| dynamic surf maps / trail maps / history visualization | ||
| large chunks of information space | ||
| focus on interactive 2d space-filling information maps | ||
| the missing ‘up button’ on the browser | ||
| intelligent summarisation and generalisation | ||
| 3 key advantages: | ||
| a sense of the whole (the birds eye view / big picture). What is there around here? | ||
| revealing hidden connections / structure | ||
| support interactive browsing | ||
| Spatialisation – turning content into maps | ||
| various algorithms | ||
| Key spatial properties: | ||
| area | ||
| position | ||
| proximity | ||
| Scale | ||
| + the graphic properties of colour, shape, labeling, etc | ||
| can we make information maps? | ||
| Yes | ||
| can we make really useful information maps? | ||
| - probably, but maybe not yet | ||
| how helpful are the current maps in navigating online content? | ||
| are the maps just eye candy? | ||
| the ‘killer map’ is yet to be drawn | ||
| I want the London Tube map for the Web | ||
| potential developments | ||
| surf maps integrated into the browser | ||
| search engine result maps | ||
| major usability issues, need evaluation | |
| many people have trouble reading maps | |
| need very clear metaphors | |
| easy modes of interaction and support | |
| interesting in themselves. Maps as art? | |
| concern for privacy issues. Maps are often used to monitor, track and control | |
| there is no one definitive map | |
| all maps maps distort, all maps deceive – some are deliberate, some are unintentional |
Distortion and
deception
“how to lie with maps”
| most obvious being through | |
| data selection/omission | |
| projections | |
| how are maps of information | |
| content deceiving? | |
| many ways to project content | |
| onto a flat map |
"questions ?? I would welcome..."
| questions ?? I would welcome feedback, email me at m.dodge@ucl.ac.uk | |
| the slides of this presentation are available at www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/martin/content_summit | |
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