User interface considerations for a better TeX environment

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Bibliography: leaves 32-34.Not availabl

Textprozessierung - Design und Applikation

Die wissenschaftliche Kommunikation und der Austausch von Forschungsergebnissen beruhte lange Zeit einzig auf der Veröffentlichung und der Rezeption von Fachbüchern und -artikeln. Erst in der jüngeren Vergangenheit wurden auch Lösungen entworfen, wie die dem Forschungsprozess zugrundeliegenden sowie die aus diesem resultierenden Daten ausgetauscht werden können. Eine zentrale Rolle spielt dabei die beständig fortschreitende Entwicklung innerhalb der Informationstechnologie. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde ein Software-System entwickelt, das es erlaubt, Experimente auszutauschen. Damit ist ein Wissenschaftler in der Lage, die Grundlage seiner empirischen Forschung direkt weiterzugeben. Dieses System ist das Text Engineering Software Laboratory, kurz Tesla. Es stellt eine Arbeitsumgebung für Wissenschaftler, die auf textuellen Daten arbeiten, bereit. Innerhalb dieser Arbeitsumgebung können in einem Client Experimente mithilfe eines graphischen Workflow-Editors sowie diverser Konfigurations-Editoren zusammengestellt werden. Diese werden auf einem Server ausgeführt und können dann wieder im Client auf unterschiedliche Arten visualisiert werden. Die Experimente werden dabei vollständig dokumentiert (Ausgangsdaten, angewendete Verfahren, Resultate). Diese Dokumentation kann exportiert und distribuiert werden, so dass die Experimente jederzeit von anderen Nutzern des Systems reproduziert werden können. Die Arbeit geht zunächst darauf ein, welche Bereiche der Wissenschaft in das Feld der Textprozessierung fallen. Daraus werden Anforderungen abgeleitet, welche von diesen Wissenschaften als Basis für Forschungen an ihrem Gegenstandsbereichen und deren Weitergabe gestellt werden. Auf dieser Grundlage wird das System Tesla vorgestellt, das den formulierten Ansprüchen gerecht wird. Dabei werden die wichtigsten Features behandelt, die Tesla dem Anwender bietet. Die Demonstration des Systems erfolgt am Beispiel einer Analyse des sogenannten Voynich-Manuskripts. Dieses Dokument wurde 1912 in Italien entdeckt wurde und stammt mutmaßlich aus dem 15. Jahrhundert. Das Manuskript enthält einen Text eines unbekannten Autors, dessen Inhalt bisher nicht entschlüsselt werden konnte. Bisher wurde auch noch kein Verschlüsselungsverfahren gefunden, das einen vergleichbaren Text erzeugt, was sich mit dieser Arbeit ändert

Developing complex information systems: The use of a geometric data structure to aid the specification of a multi-media information environment.

The enormous computing power available today has resulted in the acceptance of information technology into a wide range of applications, the identification or creation of numerous problem areas, and the considerable tasks of finding problem solutions. Using computers for handling the current data manipulation tasks which characterise modern information processing requires considerably more sophisticated hardware and software technologies. Yet the development of more 'enhanced' packages frequently requires hundreds of man-years. Similarly, computer hardware design has become so complicated that only by using existing computers is it possible to develop newer machines. The common characteristic of such data manipulation tasks is that much larger amounts of information in evermore complex arrangements are being handled at greater speeds. Instead of being 'concrete' or 'black and white', issues at the higher levels of information processing can appear blurred - there may be much less precision because situations, perspectives and circumstances can vary. Most current packages focus on specific task areas, but the modern information processing environment actually requires a broader range of functions that cooperate in integrating and relating information handling activities in a manner far beyond that normally offered. It would seem that a fresh approach is required to examine all of the constituent problems. This report describes the research work carried out during such a consideration, and details the specification and development of a suggested method for enhancing information systems by specifying a multimedia information environment. This thesis develops a statement of the perceived problems, using extensive references to the current state of information system technologies. Examples are given of how some current systems approach the multiple tasks of processing and sharing data and applications. The discussion then moves to consider further what the underlying objectives of information handling - and a suitable integration architecture - should perhaps be, and shows how some current systems do not really meet these aims, although they incorporate certain of the essential fundamentals that contribute towards more enhanced information handling. The discussion provides the basis for the specification and construction of complete, integrated Information Environment applications. The environments are used to describe not only the jobs which the user wishes to carry out, but also the circumstances under which the job is being performed. The architecture uses a new geometric data structure to facilitate manipulation of the working data, relationships, and the environment description. The manipulation is carried out spatially, and this allows the user to work using a geometric representation of the data components, thus supporting the abstract nature of some information handling tasks

Surface interaction : separating direct manipulation interfaces from their applications.

To promote both quality and economy in the production of applications and their interactive interfaces, it is desirable to delay their mutual binding. The later the binding, the more separable the interface from its application. An ideally separated interface can factor tasks from a range of applications, can provide a level of independence from hardware I/O devices, and can be responsive to end-user requirements. Current interface systems base their separation on two different abstractions. In linguistic architectures, for example User Interface Management Systems in the Seeheim model, the dialogue or syntax of interaction is abstracted in a separate notation. In agent architectures like Toolkits, interactive devices, at various levels of complexity, are abstracted into a class or call hierarchy. This Thesis identifies an essential feature of the popular notion of direct manipulation: directness requires that the same object be used both for output and input. In practice this compromises the separation of both dialogue and devices. In addition, dialogue cannot usefully be abstracted from its application functionality, while device abstraction reduces the designer's expressive control by binding presentation style to application semantics. This Thesis proposes an alternative separation, based on the abstraction of the medium of interaction, together with a dedicated user agent which allows direct manipulation of the medium. This interactive medium is called the surface. The Thesis proposes two new models for the surface, the first of which has been implemented as Presenter, the second of which is an ideal design permitting document quality interfaces. The major contribution of the Thesis is a precise specification of an architecture (UMA), whereby a separated surface can preserve directness without binding in application semantics, and at the same time an application can express its semantics on the surface without needing to manage all the details of interaction. Thus UMA partitions interaction into Surface Interaction, and deep interaction. Surface Interaction factors a large portion of the task of maintaining a highly manipulable interface, and brings the roles of user and application designer closer

CONCEPTS OF THE TEXT EDITOR LARA

Lara,. a text editor developed for the Lilith workstation, exemplifies the principles underlying modern text-editor design: a high degree of interactivity, an internal data structure that mirrors currently displaye