The primary contributions of this dissertation are to introduce a framework that can be used to design information seeking interfaces and to demonstrate that interfaces informed by this framework can improve the information seeking experience. The AgileViews framework is based on the natural and intuitive concept of views. Just as we instinctually and continually shift our focus of attention from one source of information to another to accomplish tasks and respond to stimuli in the physical world, the AgileViews framework suggests that information seeking interfaces can be improved by presenting digital information in structured, intuitive views (overviews, previews, history views, shared views, primary views, and peripheral views) and enabling users effortless interaction between these views. The practical use of this framework is illustrated in this dissertation through examples of three different prototype systems designed with the AgileViews framework.
The AgileViews framework was evaluated by conducting a two-phase user study with 28 participants. Results from the study showed that an interface developed according to the AgileViews framework does improve the user experience during information seeking, as evidenced from both objective, quantitative data and from more subjective participant impressions. Specifically, the results demonstrate that an AgileViews interface can increase the navigational efficiency and the satisfaction of people when using an information seeking system, while also encouraging them to explore the system and to be more thorough in their information seeking tasks. Yang, M., Wildemuth, B. M., Marchionini, G., Wilkens, T., Geisler, G., Hughes, A., Gruss, R., and Webster, C. (2003). Measures of user performance in video retrieval research.UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) Technical Report TR-2003-02.
Browsing and searching for digital videos online is not as easy as it is with text documents. To address this problem, researchers have begun to create video surrogates to represent video objects. The purpose of this paper is to describe and provide preliminary data regarding six measures that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of people’s interactions with video surrogates. The six types of performance to be measured are: - Object recognition (with text stimuli); - Object recognition (with graphical stimuli); - Action recognition; - Gist determination (free text); - Gist determination (multiple choice); and - Visual gist determination. While some additional development of the measures is needed, their initial field testing indicates that they are practical and can differentiate multiple levels of performance with video surrogates. These measures will continue to be refined in studies conducted by the Open Video project; we also encourage others to employ them in video retrieval research.
Wildemuth, B.M., Yang, M., Hughes, A., Gruss, R., Geisler, G., and Marchionini, G. (2003). Access via features versus access via transcripts: User performance and satisfaction.TREC VID 2003 Notebook Paper and UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) Technical Report TR-2003-05.
The Open Video Project is specifically concerned with the surrogates that can represent the objects in a digital video collection and the mechanisms through which people can manipulate those surrogates. In TREC VID 2003, we compared the effectiveness of a transcript-only search system, a features-only search system and a search system combining transcript and feature searching. We also presented several different views for users to browse the results pages: a horizontal view, a vertical view, a 'before & after' view, and an extra-keyframe view. A within-subjects research design was used, so that each of the 36 participants was exposed to all three search systems. Each participant searched half (12) of the assigned topics. The user satisfaction measures recommended by NIST were augmented by measurements of participants' perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and flow. Results indicated that, with the transcript-only system and the combined system, users were able to achieve higher recall in less time per search. The results from the measures of satisfaction indicate that the users found the transcript-only and combined systems to be more useful and easier to use, and their use resulted in stronger perceptions of enjoyment and concentration than the features-only system. It is concluded that, as users gain experience with features searching, it will be a welcome supplement to transcript searching.
Marchionini, G. & Geisler, G. (2002). “The Open Video Digital Library.” D-Lib Magazine, 8(12).
In this article we describe the primary goals of the Open Video Digital Library (OVDL), its evolution and current status. We provide overviews of the OVDL user interface research and user studies we have conducted with it, and we outline our plans for future Open Video related activities.
McClelland, M., McArthur, D., Giersch, S., & Geisler, G. (2002). “Challenges for service providers when importing metadata from digital libraries.” D-Lib Magazine, 8(4).
Much of the usefulness of digital libraries lies in their ability to provide services for data from distributed repositories, and many research projects are investigating frameworks for interoperability. In this paper, we report on the experiences and lessons learned by iLumina after importing IMS metadata. iLumina utilizes the IMS metadata specification, which allows for a rich set of metadata (Dublin Core has a simpler metadata scheme that can be mapped onto a subset of the IMS metadata). Our experiences identify questions regarding intellectual property rights for metadata, protocols for enriched metadata, and tips for designing metadata services.
Geisler, G. (2000). Enriched Links: A framework for improving web navigation using pop-up views.UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) Technical Report TR-2000-02.
We describe a conceptual framework for enriching Web links by displaying small, information-rich visualizations-pop-up views-that provide the user with information about linked pages that can be used to evaluate the appropriateness of the pages before making a commitment to select the link and wait for the page to load. Examples of how the enriched links framework could be applied in several contexts, such as e-commerce catalog pages, search results for a video repository, and desktop icons, are also presented.
Marchionini, G., Geisler, G. and Brunk, B. (2000). Agileviews: A human-centered framework for interfaces to information spaces.UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) Technical Report, TR-2000-01.
A framework for interface design that provides people with flexible control over different views for an information space is presented. The agileviews framework defines overviews, previews, reviews, peripheral views, and shared views that help people make decisions about where they should focus attention during information seeking. In addition to the views themselves, control mechanisms that facilitate low-effort actions and strategies for coordinating the views are discussed. Agileviews are particularly useful when specific partitions of large information spaces such as the WWW have been identified. Examples of these views are provided from several different projects and suggestions for additional research and development are made.
Geisler, G. (1998). Making information more accessible: A survey of information visualization applications and techniques.Unpublished Web-Based Report.
Geisler, G., Cervino, D.J., & Koyanagi, M. (1998). Distance education: A killer app?. Chapter 7 in Dempsey, B.J., & Jones, P. (Eds.), Internet Issues and Applications, 1997-1998. (pp. 151-175). Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press.
Geisler, G. & Grams, E. (1998). A little bit about streaming audio. Chapter 8 in Dempsey, B.J., & Jones, P. (Eds.), Internet Issues and Applications, 1997-1998. (pp. 179-190). Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press.
Geisler, G. (1998). Using New Technology to Teach Art History: The Celtic Art and Cultures Project.Unpublished Master's Project Report.
This report describes the development of the Celtic Art and Cultures Web site and CD-ROM. The Celtic Art and Cultures Web site is an organized collection of multimedia materials used as the basis for a university course in Celtic art and cultures. The Celtic Art and Cultures CD-ROM contains an identical version of the Web site and enables students to access the course materials without requiring an Internet connection.
The categories of the Celtic Art and Cultures Web site include Images, Maps and Timelines, Design, Topics, Vocabulary, and Site Information. The materials in these categories include over 1000 still images, QuickTimeVR panoramas and object movies, animations, audio clips, and interactive quizzes. This paper describes how these materials were selected and developed, how the Web site was designed and organized, and how the CD-ROM was made.