Towards Cross-Media Information Spaces and Architectures

Keeynote given at RCIS 2019, Brussels, Belgium.

ABSTRACT: The efficient management and retrieval of information via dedicated devices and data structures has been investigated since the early days of Vannevar Bush’s seminal article 'As We May Think' introducing the Memex. However, nowadays information is usually fragmented across different media types, devices as well as digital and physical environments, and we are often struggling to retrieve specific information. We discuss three main issues to be addressed when developing solutions for managing information in these co-called cross-media information spaces. First, we have a look at an extensible cross-media linking solution based on the resource-selector-link (RSL) hypermedia metamodel where information can be integrated across applications, devices as well as digital and physical information environments. We then outline some of the limitations of existing digital document formats which are often just a simulation of paper documents and their affordances on desktop computers, and discuss more flexible document representations for cross-media information spaces. Further, new forms of human-information interaction and cross-media user interfaces—including some recent work on dynamic data physicalisation—are discussed. A number of research artefacts are used to illustrate different aspects of the presented data-centric approach for crossmedia information spaces and architectures. Last but not least, we provide an outlook on how the embedding of the presented concepts at the level of an operating system might ultimately lead to new possibilities for cross-media information management and innovative forms of human-information interaction

Research paper: https://beatsigner.com/publications/towards-cross-media-information-spaces-and-architectures.pdf

Transcript

1. 2 December 2005 Towards Cross-Media Information Spaces and Architectures Prof. Beat Signer beatsigner.com Web & Information Systems Engineering Lab Department of Computer Science Vrije Universiteit Brussel
2. "As We May Think" (1945) ▪ Memex ▪ memory extender ▪ information retrieval ▪ associative trails ▪ trail blazers information overload
3. 01001000100 0101001100010010100010010 0100100010010001000100001001000 100010001100001001000110010101010110 1100010010100010010010010100010101011001 101001100001100 101010100 0010100 100 110101010101 00100 01010101000 1001 1111111111 111 0000000010 0 11111111 0101001011 010101010 111010101 001010010110 Cross-Media Information Spaces
4. Fragmentation of information across different applications, devices and digital & physical information environments
5. Cross-Media Linking Flexible Document Representation Cross-Media User Interfaces
6. Data-centric approach for cross-media information solutions based on a hypermedia metamodel
7. Cross-Media Linking Flexible Document Representation Cross-Media User Interfaces
8. RSL Metamodel and Link Service Beat Signer and Moira C. Norrie, As We May Link: A General Metamodel for Hypermedia Systems, Proceedings of ER 2007, November 2007
9. EdFest: Paper-Digital Guide Global Information Systems Group ETH Zurich
10. PimVis: Personal Information Management Sandra Trullemans and Audrey Sanctorum
11. PimVis Document View Audrey Sanctorum
12. PimVis Focus View Audrey Sanctorum
13. Open Cross-Media Linking local visual plug-ins external visual plug-ins communicate Cross-Media Link Browser & Editor Ahmed A.O. Tayeh
14. Cross-Media Linking Flexible Document Representation Cross-Media User Interfaces
15. What is Wrong with Digital Documents? Most people don't understand the logic of the concept: "What You See Is What You Get" is based on printing the document out ("get" means "get WHEN YOU PRINT IT OUT"). And that means a metaphysical shift: a document can only consist of what can be printed! [...] No overlays [...] – PAPER UNDER GLASS. Ted Nelson, Geeks Bearing Gifts: How the Computer World Got This Way, Mindful Press 2009 Existing document formats often based on the simulation of paper affordances on desktop computers
16. What is Wrong with Slideware? ▪ Simulation of physical slides ▪ limited space due to slide concept ▪ linear navigation ▪ monolithic documents ▪ difficult to reuse content and embed rich media types
17. MindXpres Presentation Platform ▪ Flexible representation of presentations ▪ use of structural RSL links ▪ separation of content and structure ▪ Extensible platform ▪ content-based approach ▪ cross-media content reuse ▪ non-linear navigation and zoomable user interface ▪ associative linking ▪ rich media types Reinout Roels
18. MindXpres Document Representation
19. video
20. Different context-dependent adaptive overlay structures on top of (parts of) content Clear separation between content and structure enables cross-media content reuse (transclusion)
21. Cross-Media Linking Flexible Document Representation Cross-Media User Interfaces
22. PimVis: Paper-Digital User Interface Sandra Trullemans and Audrey Sanctorum
23. ArtVis: Tangible User Interface Bram Moerman
24. Real-Time Cross-Media Data Exploration dynamic data physicalisation
25. Adaptive Distributed Hybrid User Interfaces Audrey Sanctorum and Beat Signer, A Unifying Reference Framework and Model for Adaptive Distributed Hybrid User Interfaces, Proceedings of RCIS 2019, May 2019 Audrey Sanctorum eSPACE reference framework and model
26. Cross-Media Linking Flexible Document Representation Cross-Media User Interfaces
27. Unified Cross-Media Information Spaces
28. Common underlying representation of cross-media links and structures via RSL hypermedia metamodel
29. "Operating System" of the Future RSL-based Hypermedia Engine … Legacy Applications File System Driver Hypermedia-enabled Applications RCIS2019.docx RCIS2019.docx
30. References ▪ B. Signer, Fundamental Concepts for Interactive Paper and Cross-Media Information Spaces, Second Edition, ISBN 978-3-8370-2713-6, August 2017 ▪ B. Signer and M.C. Norrie, As We May Link: A General Metamodel for Hypermedia Systems, Proceedings of ER 2007, 26th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling, Auckland, New Zealand, November 2007 ▪ http://beatsigner.com/publications/signer_ER2007.pdf
31. References ... ▪ B. Signer, What is Wrong with Digital Documents? A Conceptual Model for Structural Cross- Media Content Composition and Reuse, Proceedings of the 29th International Conference on Conceptual Mod- eling (ER 2010), Vancouver, Canada, November 2010 ▪ http://beatsigner.com/publications/signer_ER2010.pdf ▪ R. Roels and B. Signer, A Conceptual Framework and Content Model for Next Generation Presentation Solutions, Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (PACMHCI), 2019 ▪ http://beatsigner.com/publications/sanctorum_RCIS2019.pdf
32. References ... ▪ S. Trullemans, A. Sanctorum and B. Signer, PimVis: Exploring and Re-finding Documents in Cross- Media Information Spaces, Proceedings of AVI 2016, International Working Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces, Bari, Italy, June 2016 ▪ http://beatsigner.com/publications/trullemans_AVI2016.pdf ▪ B. Dumas, B. Moerman, S. Trullemans and B. Signer, ArtVis: Combining Advanced Visualisation and Tangible Interaction for the Exploration, Analysis and Browsing of Digital Artwork Collections, Proceedings of AVI 2014, Como, Italy, May 2014 ▪ http://beatsigner.com/publications/dumas_AVI2014.pdf
33. References ... ▪ B. Signer and T.J. Curtin, Tangible Holograms: Towards Mobile Physical Augmentation of Virtual Objects, Technical Report WISE Lab, WISE-2017-01, March 2017 ▪ http://beatsigner.com/publications/signer_arXiv2017.pdf ▪ A.A.O Tayeh and B. Signer, A Dynamically Extensible Open Cross-Document Link Service, Proceedings of WISE 2015, 16th International Conference on Web Information Systems Engineering, Miami, USA, November, 2015 ▪ http://beatsigner.com/publications/tayeh_WISE2015.pdf
34. References ... ▪ A. Sanctorum and B. Signer, A Unifying Reference Framework and Model for Adaptive Distributed Hybrid User Interfaces, Proceedings of RCIS 2019, 13th International Conference on Research Challenges in Information Science, Brussels, Belgium, May 2019 ▪ https://beatsigner.com/publications/sanctorum_RCIS2019.pdf