Interpretation at the controller's edge: designing graphical user interfaces for the digital publication of the excavations at Gabii (Italy)

This paper discusses the authors’ approach to designing an interface for the Gabii Project’s digital volumes that attempts to fuse elements of traditional synthetic publications and site reports with rich digital datasets. Archaeology, and classical archaeology in particular, has long engaged with questions of the formation and lived experience of towns and cities. Such studies might draw on evidence of local topography, the arrangement of the built environment, and the placement of architectural details, monuments and inscriptions (e.g. Johnson and Millett 2012). Fundamental to the continued development of these studies is the growing body of evidence emerging from new excavations. Digital techniques for recording evidence “on the ground,” notably SFM (structure from motion aka close range photogrammetry) for the creation of detailed 3D models and for scene-level modeling in 3D have advanced rapidly in recent years. These parallel developments have opened the door for approaches to the study of the creation and experience of urban space driven by a combination of scene-level reconstruction models (van Roode et al. 2012, Paliou et al. 2011, Paliou 2013) explicitly combined with detailed SFM or scanning based 3D models representing stratigraphic evidence. It is essential to understand the subtle but crucial impact of the design of the user interface on the interpretation of these models. In this paper we focus on the impact of design choices for the user interface, and make connections between design choices and the broader discourse in archaeological theory surrounding the practice of the creation and consumption of archaeological knowledge. As a case in point we take the prototype interface being developed within the Gabii Project for the publication of the Tincu House. In discussing our own evolving practices in engagement with the archaeological record created at Gabii, we highlight some of the challenges of undertaking theoretically-situated user interface design, and their implications for the publication and study of archaeological materials

Implicit Measures of Lostness and Success in Web Navigation

In two studies, we investigated the ability of a variety of structural and temporal measures computed from a web navigation path to predict lostness and task success. The user’s task was to find requested target information on specified websites. The web navigation measures were based on counts of visits to web pages and other statistical properties of the web usage graph (such as compactness, stratum, and similarity to the optimal path). Subjective lostness was best predicted by similarity to the optimal path and time on task. The best overall predictor of success on individual tasks was similarity to the optimal path, but other predictors were sometimes superior depending on the particular web navigation task. These measures can be used to diagnose user navigational problems and to help identify problems in website design

Virtual reality in theatre education and design practice - new developments and applications

The global use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has already established new approaches to theatre education and research, shifting traditional methods of knowledge delivery towards a more visually enhanced experience, which is especially important for teaching scenography. In this paper, I examine the role of multimedia within the field of theatre studies, with particular focus on the theory and practice of theatre design and education. I discuss various IT applications that have transformed the way we experience, learn and co-create our cultural heritage. I explore a suite of rapidly developing communication and computer-visualization techniques that enable reciprocal exchange between students, theatre performances and artefacts. Eventually, I analyse novel technology-mediated teaching techniques that attempt to provide a new media platform for visually enhanced information transfer. My findings indicate that the recent developments in the personalization of knowledge delivery, and also in student-centred study and e-learning, necessitate the transformation of the learners from passive consumers of digital products to active and creative participants in the learning experience

Footprints of information foragers: Behaviour semantics of visual exploration

Social navigation exploits the knowledge and experience of peer users of information resources. A wide variety of visual–spatial approaches become increasingly popular as a means to optimize information access as well as to foster and sustain a virtual community among geographically distributed users. An information landscape is among the most appealing design options of representing and communicating the essence of distributed information resources to users. A fundamental and challenging issue is how an information landscape can be designed such that it will not only preserve the essence of the underlying information structure, but also accommodate the diversity of individual users. The majority of research in social navigation has been focusing on how to extract useful information from what is in common between users' profiles, their interests and preferences. In this article, we explore the role of modelling sequential behaviour patterns of users in augmenting social navigation in thematic landscapes. In particular, we compare and analyse the trails of individual users in thematic spaces along with their cognitive ability measures. We are interested in whether such trails can provide useful guidance for social navigation if they are embedded in a visual–spatial environment. Furthermore, we are interested in whether such information can help users to learn from each other, for example, from the ones who have been successful in retrieving documents. In this article, we first describe how users' trails in sessions of an experimental study of visual information retrieval can be characterized by Hidden Markov Models. Trails of users with the most successful retrieval performance are used to estimate parameters of such models. Optimal virtual trails generated from the models are visualized and animated as if they were actual trails of individual users in order to highlight behavioural patterns that may foster social navigation. The findings of the research will provide direct input to the design of social navigation systems as well as to enrich theories of social navigation in a wider context. These findings will lead to the further development and consolidation of a tightly coupled paradigm of spatial, semantic and social navigation

Connected Information: the Hyperrepresentation of Andrea Palladio\u27s Villas

none3Classical or digital representation is not just a simple mean of reproduction or imitation of reality, its enormous potential passes through complex mechanisms of interpretation, creating new possible worlds: the purpose of representation, therefore, lies in its creative potential. If we consider the planning process, at any architectural scale, it is also evident that the representation has an important role of virtual mediation, in fact, it communicates the spatial, aesthetic, material, functional and metric information: the architecture becomes reality only if it is represented. Another important function, which representation may successfully cover, is the mapping of the historical architectural heritage, which today is losing the link with its culture, in fact, even in the most intact town centre there are a lot of appearances which have altered or destroyed the original space and the system of signs; we always see all around new changed landscapes not only from a naturalistic point of view but also considering infrastructural and architectural aspects. It is not Semantics (the system of signs), which are changing, but how to read them: Media have influenced our experience of the visual world with fluid images. For all these reasons and to coordinate the vast amount of existing data, we can broaden the definition of the usual hypertext, which is seen as a combination, which changing values run free from all kind of references, the information is exchanged outside the constraints of specific locations. Sailing within a hypertext can be read as a metaphor for the dynamic and discontinuous perception of current space (architecture, city and landscape), because hypertext allows reading reality through many codes, all valid at the same time and all bringing legitimate messages – we can consider the vision of a spatial configuration not like the result of a single author, but as the sum of the individualism of each reader-authors – . Another example of connected reading is the Augmented Reality, it combines the images of the world with computer data, creating a virtual reality in which computer graphic objects are blended into real footage in real time: in other words, AR uses live video imagery 'augmented' by the addition of computer graphics. If we refer to hypertext as an extraordinary coexistence of text, tells, documents, biographies, repertories or if we refer to the Augmented Reality in order to show and analysis of the characteristics of an actual reality, adding computer qualities; then it would be better to use an Hyper-representation to study architecture and landscape, because they are not only exterior entities. In fact, as the hypertext – the textual information arrives usually to the reader in a linear and sequential manner – is an associative and interactive link between information placed in different points of the same document, and as the Augmented Reality is an overlap of virtual and real images, then Hyper-representation of architecture, city and landscape, can be seen as a new tool not only for visualization, but also for knowledge and communication of a rapid and accurate analysis of complex data and variables. Only the Paper is inadequate for representation of all aspects of architecture and urban configurations, to which we add the dynamic space, so it is necessary to turn our attention to a 'digital organization', an Hyper-representation of a 3D model, in which one can find connections between measurements, iconographical images, historical maps, movies, synthetic reconstructions of CAD; this management allows to provide the highest level of completeness through the analysis of the available resources. In this context, we suggest the following procedural steps: • planning the GIS – Geographic Information System – of the space, where the studied architectural object is, verifying the real functionality; • testing the GIS and its standards, identified by the digital formats for architecture, city and landscape; • testing Hyper-representation as a tool to show, know and communicate data; • defining the possible procedures to validate a digital architectural model in its landscape.mixedGIORDANO A.; MONTELEONE C; FRISO IGiordano, Andrea; Monteleone, Cosimo; Friso, I

Hypertext Semiotics in the Commercialized Internet

Die Hypertext Theorie verwendet die selbe Terminologie, welche seit Jahrzehnten in der semiotischen Forschung untersucht wird, wie z.B. Zeichen, Text, Kommunikation, Code, Metapher, Paradigma, Syntax, usw. Aufbauend auf jenen Ergebnissen, welche in der Anwendung semiotischer Prinzipien und Methoden auf die Informatik erfolgreich waren, wie etwa Computer Semiotics, Computational Semiotics und Semiotic Interface Engineering, legt diese Dissertation einen systematischen Ansatz für all jene Forscher dar, die bereit sind, Hypertext aus einer semiotischen Perspektive zu betrachten. Durch die Verknüpfung existierender Hypertext-Modelle mit den Resultaten aus der Semiotik auf allen Sinnesebenen der textuellen, auditiven, visuellen, taktilen und geruchlichen Wahrnehmung skizziert der Autor Prolegomena einer Hypertext-Semiotik-Theorie, anstatt ein völlig neues Hypertext-Modell zu präsentieren. Eine Einführung in die Geschichte der Hypertexte, von ihrer Vorgeschichte bis zum heutigen Entwicklungsstand und den gegenwärtigen Entwicklungen im kommerzialisierten World Wide Web bilden den Rahmen für diesen Ansatz, welcher als Fundierung des Brückenschlages zwischen Mediensemiotik und Computer-Semiotik angesehen werden darf. Während Computer-Semiotiker wissen, dass der Computer eine semiotische Maschine ist und Experten der künstlichen Intelligenz-Forschung die Rolle der Semiotik in der Entwicklung der nächsten Hypertext-Generation betonen, bedient sich diese Arbeit einer breiteren methodologischen Basis. Dementsprechend reichen die Teilgebiete von Hypertextanwendungen, -paradigmen, und -strukturen, über Navigation, Web Design und Web Augmentation zu einem interdisziplinären Spektrum detaillierter Analysen, z.B. des Zeigeinstrumentes der Web Browser, des Klammeraffen-Zeichens und der sogenannten Emoticons. Die Bezeichnung ''Icon'' wird als unpassender Name für jene Bildchen, welche von der graphischen Benutzeroberfläche her bekannt sind und in Hypertexten eingesetzt werden, zurückgewiesen und diese Bildchen durch eine neue Generation mächtiger Graphic Link Markers ersetzt. Diese Ergebnisse werden im Kontext der Kommerzialisierung des Internet betrachtet. Neben der Identifizierung der Hauptprobleme des eCommerce aus der Perspektive der Hypertext Semiotik, widmet sich der Autor den Informationsgütern und den derzeitigen Hindernissen für die New Economy, wie etwa der restriktiven Gesetzeslage in Sachen Copyright und Intellectual Property. Diese anachronistischen Beschränkungen basieren auf der problematischen Annahme, dass auch der Informationswert durch die Knappheit bestimmt wird. Eine semiotische Analyse der iMarketing Techniken, wie z.B. Banner Werbung, Keywords und Link Injektion, sowie Exkurse über den Browser Krieg und den Toywar runden die Dissertation ab

Dynamic literature mapping : typography in screen-based media

This paper chronicles the development of a visual map representing a literature search on key theorists and thinkers in two principal topics: Typography and New Media. Its aim is to visualise and facilitate conceptual connections between key ideas and philosophies across disciplines. This literature map was drawn up by reviewing available influential literature within these topics. Related categories were later added and a further series of literature searches were conducted to build references in each topic. This on-going cyclical process serves to construct a comprehensive contextual map of knowledge. The benefit of the map is twofold. Primarily, aiding the researcher to navigate and understand complex layers of information. Secondly, allowing the researcher to present and share representations of knowledge. The clarity of the representation is crucial in eliciting the participation of fellow design researchers and practitioners to the development and growth of the literature map

User Interfaces for Personal Knowledge Management with Semantic Technologies

This thesis describes iMapping and QuiKey, two novel user interface concepts for dealing with structured information. iMapping is a visual knowledge mapping technique based on zooming, which combines the advantages of several existing approaches and scales up to very large maps. QuiKey is a text-based tool to interact with graph-structured knowledge bases with very high interaction efficiency. Both tools have been implemented and positively evaluated in user studies