The central idea of this work is to dissolve the static association between
input marks and their interpretation and experiment with a dynamic, yet fluid,
user driven association instead.
Abstract
The goal of this thesis is to empower individuals involved in design activities
using the written medium. The aim is to preserve positive features of
traditional written medium while enhancing them by computational components.
Towards this goal, the thesis explores the role of the written medium in the
design process, discusses prior art in support of such activities, and presents
a framework to integrate computational components into the written medium. COMPUTERS AND DESIGN
The interpretation of symbols and gestures used in the design process is
determined on the spot, through negotiated understanding, supported by
personal experience, the social context, and the common understanding of
practitioners in the field [1, 2, 4, 5]. Using computational facilities to
support some of the manipulations of symbols in this process comes at a cost.
In order to perform operations on symbols, computers require the
interpretation of these symbols to be rigid and well defined.
Yet, the role of computer tools should not be to constrict the fluidity of the design process nor the fluidity with which meaning is attached to the symbols used in this process. Instead, computer tools should make representation only rigid when necessary for computational operations, at the appropriate level of abstraction chosen by the user.
Thus the central idea of this work is to dissolve the static association between representation, its structure, and its interpretation and experiment with a dynamic user driven association between representation, structure and interpretation as the central mechanism for using computers.
Instead of choosing an application and then "filling in the blanks", this approach puts representation before structure and interpretation. Using a pen, the user draws marks on an electronic display surface, and only when needed, possibly at some later point in time, identifies a subset of the marks and applies some interpretation to it.
While Andy is starting to talk about the kitchen extension he takes the
electronic pen and starts to sketch over the original plan. He also does a
little sketch on the side which shows how he envisions the extension to look
when viewed from the side. While working he uses the pen much like he would
have used a regular pen. In addition he also erases parts of the old wall and
some sketching mistakes via gestures.
While Andy continues to talk about the new kitchen furniture he plans to buy, the architect scribbles little notes on the side of the sketches and also places and outlines the window in the new wall, that Andy forgot to draw. Noticing this, Andy remembers that he wanted to have the door moved as well, selects the original door with gestures and drags it towards the kitchen extension. Felix points to the newly created kitchen space and starts talking about its size. Through the translucent plan of the house he sees some work he looked at yesterday evening with his partner, an interior designer. He brings the layer up, selects some kitchen furniture and drags a copy over to the kitchen extension. Andy and Felix agree to enlarge the space a little.
Instead of changing the sketch using regular gestures and ink, Felix decides to apply the house-drafting-interpretation to the sketch of the kitchen extension. This straightens out and connects the walls, and turns the sketch of the window into the correct architectural symbols. The kitchen furniture, the dragged door, the side view of the extension as well as the little notes Felix scribbled before, stay as they are. Felix could have resized the extension via dragging, but likes to get down to real numbers, so he draws a dimensioning gesture and scribbles an estimated size next to it. The kitchen extends and Andy moves the furniture around in order to see how things fit now.
After discussing the size of the window and the location of the door, they decide to wrap things up and to discuss estimated times, and expenses involved. Felix jots some numbers and comments down, then chooses a calculator-interpretation to compute an estimated total. They decide that the architect will refine the sketch of the side view, and come up with exact structural changes and estimates for the next meeting.
Furthermore, turning the paper medium from a passive medium into a computational medium avails manipulation and transformation of content previously impossible. By attaching interpretations to selected parts of the ink the content becomes rigid enough for computational processes to work. Yet, structured and unstructured, interpreted and un-interpreted content can stand side by side, and be transformed into each other. Thus different parts of a design can be formalized to different levels.
The use of an electronic pen as the input device allows a fluid transition from textual to graphical to command input. Furthermore, it lends itself naturally to spatial access and spatial distribution of textual and graphical information.
Usually computer applications exhibit very coarse grained structural requirements. In contrast this thesis is on the quest for finding fine-grained minimal structures that still allow interesting operations to be performed. By choosing such fine-grained interpretations the user can apply the appropriate level of abstraction to the information at hand.
What are appropriate fine-grained abstractions? How would the user know which one to choose? Which ones are available? How does one deal with information that cannot be processed by the interpretation choosen? How would one deal with deconstructing representations other than ink back into "atoms"?
How does one visuallize the interpretation associated with marks and the operations it entails? How does one visualize nested interpretations? How would the user know which gestures make sense in the current interpretation context? How would the user choose information to be associated with an interpretation?
[2] Koestler, A., The Act of Creation, Penguin, 1964
[3] Kramer, A., Translucent Patches - Dissolving Windows, UIST 94,
1994
[4] Minneman, S., The Social Construction of a Technical Reality: Empirical
Studies of Group Engineering Design Practice, Dissertation, Xerox PARC,
SSL-91-22, 1991
[5] Tang, J.C., Listing, Drawing, and Gesturing in Design: A Study of the
Use of Shared Workspaces by Design Teams, Dissertation, Xerox PARC,
SSL-89-3, 1989
Acknowledgments
I like to thank my advisors Reinhard Keil-Slawik and Thomas Christaller for valuable discussions and
support.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] Cuff, D., Architecture - The Story of Practice, MIT Press, 1991