Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 09:48:15 -0500
To: fox@vtopus.cs.vt.edu
From: "Harry M. Kriz" <Harry_M_Kriz@vt.edu>
Subject: Visualization of info searching

Ed:

You asked me to send you a clearer statement of the things I'm interested
in exploring relative to the cave.

After talking to some folks, I've concluded I'm interested in what would be
called visualization of the information resource that I have to search
through to find what I want.
_______________
CONSIDERATIONS:

1.)  The Library maps all of human knowledge into a one-dimensional
classification system (LC or Dewey, for instance) in order to shelve
materials by subject. We then take that one-dimensional array and wrap it
onto the shelves of the library into a three-dimensional space.

2.)  We make it easier to find (or at least easier to handle or get to
quickly once they are identified) some materials that are heavily used by
shelving them separately from the bulk of the collection (ready-reference
collection). We shelve other materials according to their format (fiche,
film, cd-rom) or their publisher (government documents).

3.) To aid in finding materials we create an index based on a complex
network of subject headings. There is a many-to-many relationship between
the classification scheme and the subject headings.


When searching for information in the library, a person depends on many
visual cues that provide guidance concerning subject matter, format, etc.
Once an object containing useful information is found, the visual cues make
it easy to return to the object. 

In contrast, when searching the index, we have no visual cues. It is an
abstract process based on text. It is easy to get lost when following a
thread of subject headgins. It is difficult to remember how we got from one
place to another. To make it more difficult, we now perform these searches
by looking through a small window (the computer screen). In the past it
could be somewhat easier because the card catalog was three-dimensional and
provided visual cues to the text searching.

_______________
QUESTIONS:

So, my questions are:

1.) Are people working on the visualization of the retrieval of conceptual
information? 

2.) Can I sit in front of a screen and view a three-dimensional model of
the information space I'm searching?

3.) Could this kind of searching be extended into cave space?

--Harry