Hyunmo Kang
Zoomable User Interface
CMSC 838B
April 14, 1999
 
 

The Intelligent Zoom as Metaphore and Navigation Tool in a Multi-Screen Interface for Network Control Systems

Lyn Bartram, Frank Henigman and John Dill

Summary :

    The Intelligent Zoom technique for network control system interfaces was limited by the constraints of a single screen. So, the new approach makes use of the zoom as both a unifying metaphore for the underlying process and information space, and a navigation tool by which the user can both see information directly on the zoom itself or reach through the zoom to populate the second screen. But there are many issues to be addressed in properly designing an integrated multi-screen interface; how to support and reduce the user's task of mentally integrating the information in disparate views (the correspondence problem), which information to place where on the second, non-zoom screen (the population problem) and how to reduce the user interface management required for the second screen.
 

• The Continuous Zoom(CZ) : CZ manages display space to represent a hierarchically organized information space. By opening, closing and resizing nodes, the user constructs a detail in context view of network with as many focal points as needed.
• The Intelligent Zoom(IZ) : IZ assists the user in choosing node representations and it adjusts size to convey the relative importance of the node.
• The Zoom as Information and Navigation Metaphore : The zoom is highly effective for navigating large networks. One reason is its intuitive mapping to the underlying information space. Another reason is the explicit support the zoom provides the user for recognizing and understanding his present location in the information space.
• Problem Statement : 
  • how to supply context for the information on the second screen (correspondence problem)
  • how to choose which information should appear on the second screen (population problem)
  • how to manage the second screen (management problem)

Things I liked :

• The zoom as Information and Navigation Metaphore : I agreed with the opinion that the zoom effectively supports both the hierarchical and associative thinking which are essential components of information searching.
• The concept of "Intelligent Zoom" : I liked the concept of reducing the number of steps the user must take in order to control the interface by system's automatic decision.

Problems :

• It was very hard to understand the figure #1 and #2 in the paper, and I couldn't find any diffenrences between the two.
• The one of the main points of this paper should be the way the intelligent zoom is implemented and used in network control system, but the explanation is not enough for me to understand the system.
• I couldn't admit that the authors overcome the limitations of single screen they mentioned in this paper by adding the second work screen to the IZ view.
• The author said that CZ and its predecessor the Variable Zoom(VZ) were highly effective for navigating large networks, but he didn't mention anything about the experimental results to support his assertion.

Questions
 

• According to the paper, in the IZ, intelligence assists the user in choosing node representations. Does the interface give any suggestions to users in choosing a representation ? if so, what's the criteria and algorithm used in the system ? if not, is it just a pop up menu that lets user choose a representation ? then why is it called intelligence ?
• In this paper, intelligence in the IZ takes only two forms. Aren't there any other forms of intelligence that can reduce the burden of managing the interface so that the operator could work more efficiently ?

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