IRList Digest Friday, 28 Mar 1986 Volume 2 : Issue 16 Today's Topics: Query - Software for maintaining thesaurus information? Reply - Address for mail to ETH Reply - Suggestion on message format, question on IRList distribution Email - Use of BITNIC database to access old IRList issues-> subjects! Article - Part 2 of 2 on Human Computer Interaction at U. of Maryland ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 27 Mar 86 02:28:43 est From: ARCHIVE%vax3.oxford.ac.uk@cs.ucl.ac.uk Subject: thesaurus software ... Has you or anyone come across any software tools for building/maintaining thesaurus information? Prefarbly for IBM PC clones tho UNIX tools would do. There doesnt seem to be much around ... Lou Burnard ------------------------------ From: Aviezri Fraenkel Date: Mon, 24 Mar 86 13:18:20 -0200 Subject: ETH ... Since people working in IR are for sure able to use it to retrieve an electronic address, I conclude that you do not have the files. So let me help you with it. The Institut fuer Informatik, from which H.P Giger wrote to you (IRList #15), can be reached via the following uucp routes, as a simple search in our uucp files indicates: ...cmcl2!seismo!mcvax!cernvax!ethz!user ...princeton!seismo!prlb2!cernvax!ethz!user Best wishes and regards, Aviezri S. Fraenkel. [Note: Thanks for the information - you are right, I did not have the files. I will try the route via "mcvax" since it looks like a better connection for "seismo" and I will post a complete address if I make it thru. - Ed] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Mar 86 05:07:19 est From: macrakis@harvard.harvard.edu Subject: IRList Digest V2 #13 I'd MUCH rather have the messages in plain text, single space, no underlining, ragged right margin. Almost all messages I read just once. I can't imagine when I'd want to typeset a message with troff. -s [Note: I will clean up files for reading, but can't guarantee that the right margin will be ragged (esp. if nroff adjusts it) - Ed] By the way, your address appeared to be fox@seismo.CSS.GOV, which doesn't work. [Note: IRList is distributed from seismo.css.gov, a kind service that saves a great deal of expense! I don't have a login there, however. I can be reached via UUCP connection to seismo at fox%vtcs1.uucp@seismo.css.gov in case that helps. Sorry if this has caused confusion; I had hoped the distribution would be transparent. - Ed] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Mar 86 21:52:23 EST From: James H. Coombs Subject: DATABASE@BITNIC and Subject Fields Greetings! I have been trying to go through some old IR-Lists using the SPIRES database accessible through DATABASE@BITNIC, and I have not been getting the results that I would expect. I think that I have identified two major problems. 1) I was not using the proper command. For example, instead of 'FIND DATE MAR (IN IR-LIST', I should have used 'FIND DATE STRING MAR (IN IR-LIST'. The latter form will match on both "MAR" and "MARCH", which is what I want. 2) The other problem, I believe, is that some of the notes do not have SUBJECT fields. I noticed that my own first note does not, and I believe that the lack of the subject field prevented my retrieving a notice on "electronic manuscript publishing" when I used the command 'FIND SUBJECT STRING ELECTRONIC (IN IR-LIST'. So, please try to ensure that you include a subject header with your notices. If I have made any mistakes here, someone please correct them. Thanks. --Jim [Note: Well, well! Isn't it funny that information retrieval people are the ones to not have meaningful Subject: headings! In all seriousness, I have omitted Subject: entries that were simply "Fox" or "IRlist" or the like. Please put meaningful subject lines in your messages, or I will have to make them up (as you will see). Thanks for the comments, Jim! - Ed] ------------------------------ From: edu%"ben@mimsy.umd.edu" 2-FEB-1986 22:10 Date: Sun, 2 Feb 86 21:55:46 EST From: Ben Shneiderman Subject: Re: old articles [Following is part 2 of a 2 part edited extract from materials describing research at the University of Maryland. Contact B. Shneiderman for a complete reprint - Ed.] HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION RESEARCH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND Ben Shneiderman Department of Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 October 1985 2) Menu selection Menu selection as a mode of user control over the human/computer interface has been the topic of research of a grant supported by Control Data Corporation. This effort has been conducted in collaboration with Prof. Kent Norman of the Department of Psychology. Although menu selection seems like a straight forward method of interaction for novice users, our research indicates that there are a number of important human factors considerations that must be taken into account. A series of empirical studies have been conducted in which menu structures have been implemented using a menu selection prototyping system (MSPS) developed here at Maryland. The first study investigated training methods in learning a content free menu system. ... The results indicated that users who studied the global tree of the menu do somewhat better than users who (a) memorize sequences of choices, (b) study menu frames, or (c) traverse the menu in a trial and error fashion. The second study investigated training methods and distinctiveness in searching for target items in a commercial timesharing service. ... Again it was found that the global tree method of training led to the best performance. Distinctiveness had a marginal effect. In cases where the user searched for a specific target item, times were faster than when searching for a item to meet a requirement or a function. In the latter case, additional time is required to determine if the found item meets the needs of the user. A third study investigated the effect of menu structure on the search process. .. A data base of 256 gift items was generated and clustered into 5 different structures with four levels. The number of choices at each level in the 5 structures were as follows: 4-4-4-4, 2-2-8-8, 8-8-2-2, 2-8-8-2, 8-2-2- 8. Results to date indicate a superiority for the 4-4-4-4 and 8-2-2-8 structuress over the others in terms of overall time to find items and number of frames visited. Other work along these lines has involved the development of a menu evaluation scale in which users assess the degree to which the menu facilitates or retards work by its clarity, speed, efficieny of path, etc. In addition a theory of user search behavior is being developed that relies on behaioral choice theory and information theory. Future work is planned along three lines. First, it is important to understand the efficient use of menus by experienced users. ... Second, the transfer of training from one system to another is becoming important as users are having to learn a number of different systems. ... Finally, more and more systems are using icons in addition to text. Since icons are highly recognizable and discriminable they may greatly facilitate the use of menu systems in which the user does not need to recall the item (icon) but merely recognize it in a display of many icons. ... An experiment will then be designed in which we compare verbal, iconic, and iconic plus verbal menus. 3) TIES and OLMM The Interactive Encyclopedia System (TIES) has been under development at the University of Maryland since Fall 1983. It allows novice users to explore information resources in an easy and appealing manner. They merely touch (or use arrow keys to move a light bar onto) topics that interest them and a brief definition appears at the bottom of the screen. The users may continue reading or ask for details about the selected topic. An article about a topic may be one or more screens long. As users traverse articles, TIES keeps the path and allows easy reversal, building confidence and a sense of control. Advanced features include the ability to view an index of articles or print out articles of interest. ... The current version of TIES is being produced at the University of Maryland for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Education Center under contract from the Department of Interior. This version will include: - Novice user browsing software. - Database of approximately 110 articles (100-500 words each) on "Austria and the Holocaust 1933-1945", written by Dr. Marsha Rozenblit of the History Department. - Authoring software for composing new articles and editing. TIES is appealing to authors because of the explicit instructional model, the reduction of computer-related concepts, the focus on content, and the lively user interface. ... TIES allows authors to create a network of conceptual knowledge in which concepts are linked associatively and the learner is free to explore pathways based on their needs and interests. ... Three experimental studies have been conducted to test out certain design alternatives (such as demonstrating the advantage of arrow keys over the mouse for this system) and observe user behavior. ... In the study comparing the arrow keys (maybe better termed "jump" keys because the cursor would jump to the closest target in the direction pressed) to the mouse, the arrow keys proved to be and average of 15% faster and preferred by almost 90% of the subjects. ... In a second study using the TIES technique, subjects traversed a database with 42 articles about the University of Maryland Student Union. The embedded menus technique reduced the number of screens viewed when compared with an explicit menu strategy. There were significant reductions in the times for task performance, and the subjective preference was strongly for the embedded menus. The embedded menus idea was also used for two experiments with online maintenance manuals (OLMM), conducted by Larry Koved and supported by IBM Federal Systems Division. ... When a pruning algorithm was applied to the text to allow users to trim text unrelated to their task, the time was cut in half. This latter experiment used only the computer condition and demonstrated one of the advantages of screens over printed text. This is important, since for many applications printed manuals are still easier to use and approximately 30% faster to read than computer displays. A field trial was conducted for a week in the B'nai Brith Klutznick Museum in Washington, DC using the touchscreen and arrow key versions. Visitors from 7 to 77 years explored the Austria database and provided comments on subjective evaluation forms. Reaction was generally very positive with a strong preference for the touchscreen version. Major extensions include support for graphics, videodisc, or integration with other software. Further testing is needed to select the optimum touchscreen or other input devices and to test alternate screens. ... 4) Direct manipulation and DMDOS Certain computer systems generate feelings of enthusiasm, confidence, desire for exploration, clarity, competence, and predictability. These positive experiences seem to emerge when the user is presented with a visual display of the world of action with the objects of interest clearly available for intuitively obvious manipulation. Operations are accomplished by physical actions, such as special buttons, joystick, mouse, or touchscreen, rather than by typing commands or making menu selections. These operations are generally rapid, incremental (that is, smooth or continuous), and reversible. Familiar examples of direct manipulation systems include full screen display editor-formatters (What you see is what you get - WYSIWYG), video games, VisiCalc and its descendants, some educational games, air traffic control displays, and the Macintosh, Lisa, and XEROX STAR environments. TIES might also be seen as a direct manipulation system for pursuing ideas in textual databases. To explore the design issues in direct manipulation systems Osamu Iseki (Visiting Scholar for Nippon Electric Company in Japan) implemented a direct manipulation version of the IBM PC-DOS commands. Called DMDOS (for Direct Manipulation DOS), it displays both the A and B directories simultaneously. Directory files are selected by pointing and clicking. The directory can be sorted, sub-directories can be traversed, and the display can be switched from WIDE to FULL mode. Operations supported are comparison of two files, copying to a file, copying from a file to the screen, copying from the screen to a file, copying from a file to the printer, comparison of two files, erasing of files, execution of programs, and online help. ...