CHI 97 Electronic Publications: Formal Video Program
An Animated Direct-Manipulation Interface to Digital Library Services
Steve B. Cousins
Stanford University
Computer Science Department
Stanford, CA 94305 USA
+1 415 723 7784
cousins@cs.stanford.edu
Ken Pier
Xerox PARC
3333 Coyote Hill Rd.
Palo Alto, CA 94304 USA
+1 415 812 4861
pier@parc.xerox.com
ABSTRACT
The Digital Library Integrated Task Environment (DLITE)
is a novel user interface concept for distributed document collections
and services. It is an interaction prototype, not a polished graphical
user interface, and is a front end to an evolving variety of distributed
document services. DLITE is part of the Stanford University Digital
Libraries research project. This videotape explains the principles
of the DLITE design and shows the current implementation in action.
Keywords
Digital library, user interface, direct-manipulation, World Wide Web,
holophrasting
© 1997 Copyright on this material is held by the authors.
THE STANFORD DIGITAL LIBRARIES PROJECT
The Stanford Digital Libraries Project does research
within the Stanford University Computer Science Department in
conjunction with industrial affiliates such as Xerox PARC. The
Digital Libraries project is not about scanning millions of documents.
It is concerned with access to widely distributed digital documents,
library services beyond simply acquiring documents, and system
architecture that affords uniform use of distributed document
services.
WHAT IS DLITE?
DLITE is a novel user interface concept for distributed
document collections and services. DLITE uses direct-manipulation,
drag-and-drop, and object animation to create a close connection
among users and documents. DLITE also uses the Netscape web browser
for some user interactions and for presentation of results. The
underlying software architecture and implementation are provided
by the Stanford University InfoBus research prototype.
WORKCENTERS: A SEARCH TASK
Users use and may create workcenters consisting of
a set of objects, called components, needed for a particular task.
Components represent capabilities for high-level
operations. The video shows an example workcenter
containing a Query Creator component and several Search components.
We can type a search string into the Query component and invoke
it. The component emits a Query Object, an iconic representation
of the query. When the query is dragged and dropped onto a Search
component, that Search Service (say, AltaVista web search) is
invoked on the Query. The Search Component emits a Document Collection
object. The Document Collection fills with small document icons
as the results of the search are received. The video shows how
the result set can be abstracted, the abstract viewed, and how
selected elements of the collection can be displayed.
INTERFACE ANIMATION
We next show how DLITE uses direct-manipulation,
drag-and-drop, and object animation. A query dropped on a Search
Service moves to "join" the query result object emitted
by the service. Any document in a collection can be "copied
off" by dragging a copy of its icon out of the collection.
Animation is also used as a progress indicator. When we drop a
scanned text document onto a text recognition service, the document
animates downward when it is accepted by the service. Successful
recognition results in the document and its new recognized text
document sliding to the right. Failure is indicated by the document
sliding left. Finally, when an object is dropped onto a component
that cannot process that object type; the object scurries back
to where it came from.
A COMPLEX TASK: A CONFERENCE PAPER BIBLIOGRAPHY
We next perform a more complex task: compiling and
formatting the reference section for a conference paper (Fig.
1). To cite the Stanford Digital Libraries home page, we create
a query for the Digital Libraries Project, then drag-and-drop
it onto the AltaVista search component. Numerous hits are returned,
and we find the home page among the first few hits.
The second citation is to a published paper whose
title and author we know. We create a more specific "bibliographic"
query, and drop it on the Folio document abstract service. The
desired abstract quickly appears. After similarly finding the
remaining paper citations, we have the results of interest, in
separate document collections, but we want a nicely formatted
bibliography. So we turn to InterBib, a bibliography processing
service. We create an empty document collection object, then drag
copies of our found cited documents into it. When we drop that
collection on the InterBib service, it emits a bibliography nearly
ready for insertion into our paper.
HOLOPHRASTING
It is clear that DLITE is not a walk-up-and-use interface.
We are experimenting with progressive disclosure, or holophrastic,
component sets that can guide a user through a particular task.
We show a sketch of components that could guide a walk-up user
through a simple task. As each step is clicked on, it expands
to provide detailed instructions, which can later be collapsed
by the user as the task progresses.
NOTICE
This material is based upon work supported by the
National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement IRI-9411306.
Funding for this cooperative agreement is also provided by DARPA,
NASA, and the industrial partners of the Stanford Digital Libraries
Project. Any opinions, finding, and conclusions or recommendations
expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation
or the other sponsors.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank our colleagues in the Xerox PARC Graphics
and Interaction Research area and at the Stanford Digital Libraries
Project for their encouragement and assistance in making the videotape.
REFERENCES
- Cousins, S., et. al. A Distributed Interface
for the Digital Library. Stanford University, 1996. http://www-diglib.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/WP/get/SIDL-WP-1996-0037.
- Paepcke, A., et. al. Towards Interoperability
in Digital Libraries: Overview and Selected Highlights of the
Stanford Digital Library Project. IEEE Computer Magazine, May,
1996. Also: http://www-diglib.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/WP/get/SIDL-WP-1995-0013
- Paepcke, A. InterBib: Bibliography-related services.
http://www-interbib.stanford.edu/~testbed/interbib.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
http://www-diglib.stanford.edu/
http://www.parc.xerox.com/istl/projects/dlib/
Figure 1: A DLITE workcenter
for bibliography processing. The workcenter shown contains seven
main components: a query constructor, two search services, two
search result collections, an ad hoc collection called "Relevant
Articles," and the InterBib service. Below the InterBib service
are two collections that have already been processed, each with
the generated bibliography as a document next to it.
CHI 97 Electronic Publications: Formal Video Program
