. The proliferation ofcomputing into the physical world promises more than the ubiquitous availability of computing infrastructure; it suggests new paradigms of interaction inspired by constant access to information and computational capabilities. For the past decade, applicationdriven research in ubicomp has pushed three interaction themes: natural interfaces, context-aware applications, and automated capture and access. To chart a course for future research in ubiquitous computing, we review the accomplishments of these efforts and point to remaining research challenges. Research in ubiquitous computing implicitly requires addressing some notion of scale; whether in the number and type of devices, the physical space of distributed computing or the number of people using a system. We posit a new area of applications research, everyday computing, focussed on scaling interaction with respect to time. Just as pushing the availability of computing away from the traditional desktop fun...

Although information visualization (infovis) technologies have proven indispensable tools for making sense of complex data, wide-spread deployment has yet to take hold, as successful infovis applications are often difficult to author and require domain-specific customization. To address these issues, we have created prefuse, a software framework for creating dynamic visualizations of both structured and unstructured data. prefuse provides theoretically-motivated abstractions for the design of a wide range of visualization applications, enabling programmers to string together desired components quickly to create and customize working visualizations. To evaluate prefuse we have built both existing and novel visualizations testing the toolkit's flexibility and performance, and have run usability studies and usage surveys finding that programmers find the toolkit usable and effective.

This article introduces a new interaction model called Instrumental Interaction that extends and generalizes the principles of direct manipulation. It covers existing interaction styles, including traditional WIMP interfaces, as well as new interaction styles such as two-handed input and augmented reality. It defines a design space for new interaction techniques and a set of properties for comparing them. Instrumental Interaction describes graphical user interfaces in terms of domain objects and interaction instruments. Interaction between users and domain objects is mediated by interaction instruments, similar to the tools and instruments we use in the real world to interact with physical objects. The article presents the model, applies it to describe and compare a number of interaction techniques, and shows how it was used to create a new interface for searching and replacing text. Keywords Interaction model, WIMP interfaces, direct manipulation, post-WIMP interfaces, instrumental ...

In this I paper I explore the need for a new field of geographic enquiry called cybergeography. This is the investigation of the complex and multifaceted structure, use and experience of the online world inside global computer-communications networks, most obviously represented by the Internet and the World-Wide Web. In particular I focus on how one can study the geography of Internet diffusion from publicly available statistics. Then I consider ways that the landscapes of Cyberspace can be mapped to enhance our understanding of their evolving form and texture using examples of a real-time "weather map" of Internet congestion and maps of the urban structure of virtual world.

We present a novel tree browser that builds on the conventional node link tree diagrams. It adds dynamic rescaling of branches of the tree to best fit the available screen space, optimized camera movement, and the use of preview icons summarizing the topology of the branches that cannot be expanded. In addition, it includes integrated search and filter functions. This paper reflects on the evolution of the design and highlights the principles that emerged from it. A controlled experiment showed benefits for navigation to already previously visited nodes and estimation of overall tree topology.

Graphics have been used since ancient times to portray things that are inherently spatiovisual, like maps and building plans. More recently, graphics have been used to portray things that are metaphorically spatiovisual, like graphs and organizational charts. The assumption is that graphics can facilitate comprehension, learning, memory, communication and inference. Assumptions aside, research on static graphics has shown that only carefully designed and appropriate graphics prove to be beneficial for conveying complex systems. Effective graphics conform to the Congruence Principle according to which the content and format of the graphic should correspond to the content and format of the concepts to be conveyed. From this, it follows that animated graphics should be effective in portraying change over time. Yet the research on the efficacy of animated over static graphics is not encouraging. In cases where animated graphics seem superior to static ones, scrutiny reveals lack of equivalence between animated and static graphics in content or procedures; the animated graphics convey more information or involve interactivity. Animations of events may be ineffective because animations violate the second principle of good graphics, the Apprehension Principle, according to which graphics should be accurately perceived and appropriately conceived. Animations are often too complex or too fast to be accurately perceived. Moreover, many continuous events are conceived of as sequences of discrete steps. Judicious use of interactivity may overcome both these disadvantages. Animations may be more effective than comparable static graphics in situations other than conveying complex systems, for example, for real time reorientations in time and space.

Visualization of high-dimensional, large data sets, resulting from computational simulation, is one of the most challenging fields in scientific viualization. When visualization aims at supporting the analysis of such data sets, feature-based approches are very useful to reduce the amount of data which is shown at each instance of time and guide the user to the most interesting areas of the data. When using feature-based visualization, one of the most difficult questions is how to extract or specify the features. This is mostly done (semi-)automatic up to now. Especially when interactive analysis of the data is the main goal of the visualization, tools supporting interactive specification of features are needed. In this paper we present a framework for flexible and interactive specification of high-dimensional and/or complex features in simulation data. The framework makes use of multiple, linked views from information as well as scientific visualization and is based on a simple and compact feature definition language (FDL). It allows the definition of one or several features, which can be complex and/or hierarchically described by brushing multiple dimensions (using non-binary and composite brushes). The result of the specification is linked to all views, thereby a focus+context style of visualization in 3D is realized. To demonstrate the usage of the specification, as well as the linked tools, applications from flow simulation in the automotive industry are presented. 1.

A challenge for human-computer interaction researchers and user interface designers is to construct information technologies that support creativity. This ambitious goal can be attained by building on an adequate understanding of creative processes. This paper offers a four-phase framework for creativity that might assist designers in providing effective tools for users:- Collect: learn from previous works stored in digital libraries, the web, etc.- Relate: consult with peers and mentors at early, middle and late stages- Create: explore, compose, and evaluate possible solutions- Donate: disseminate the results and contribute to the digital libraries Within this integrated framework, this paper proposes eight activities that require humancomputer interaction research and advanced user interface design. A scenario about an architect illustrates the process of creative work within such an environment.

In previous work, researchers have attempted to construct taxonomies of information visualization techniques by examining the data domains that are compatible with these techniques. This is useful because implementers can quickly identify various techniques that can be applied to their domain of interest. However, these taxonomies do not help the implementers understand how to apply and implement these techniques. In this paper, we will extend and then propose a new way to taxonomize information visualization techniques by using the Data State Model [Chi98]. In fact, as the taxonomic analysis in this paper will show, many of the techniques share similar operating steps that can easily be reused. The paper shows that the Data State Model not only helps researchers understand the space of design, but also helps implementers understand how information visualization techniques can be applied more broadly. Keywords Information Visualization, Data State Model, Reference Model, Taxonomy, Te...

The data regarding the components of a software system consists of a large amount of information such as version history, number of lines, defect density, and complexity measures. The ability to quickly grasp a comprehensive view of the evolution and dependencies of such information is the key to making informed decisions about future developments of the system. Managers usually make such decision based only on expert judgement. For help in making such decisions, we can turn to the evolution history of large software systems, which contain a wealth of hidden information. Traditionally, this information is passed on through anecdotes without any supporting analytical data. This paper reports on our attempts to make such information more concrete through information visualization techniques. We present a threedimensional visual representation for examining a system’s software release history. The structure of the system is displayed by 2-D or 3-D graphs. The historical information is displayed by using time as the third dimension. Colors are used for displaying module properties and their historical changes in the system. A supporting software tool enables not only visualization but also navigation in the 3-D space to change the viewpoint, to browse system information, to find interesting patterns and to discover previously unknown relationships among system components.