Peripheral awareness is a powerful human resource that has only recently been addressed in media space design. The challenge is to figure out what would be important to convey remotely and to strike a balance between too much and too little. Symbolic representation of remote activity is a powerful way to go, but as it turns out also easy to do wrong. This paper presents some early findings on problems and promises of using symbolic representation: it reports from informal studies of people using the AROMA prototype in regular office and home settings, and it conveys some lessons and designing appropriate and effective symbolic representations.

Improvements in computer network infrastructures and information utilities have led to an increase in the number of social and work interactions carried out 'virtually' by geographically separated group members [1, 5, 6, 7]. In this paper we describe the design and evaluation of a prototype system that supports synchronous and asynchronous collaboration between researchers separated by space and time. The system provides non-collocated team members with a digital, virtual space for information sharing and discussion. For synchronous interactions, our design prioritizes provision of shared context, real-time discourse, and real-time problem solving and negotiation between the team members. In the case of asynchronous interactions, we have prioritized the capture of team decision making and negotiation processes and the representation of these processes in a context-rich, hypertextual document of team problem solving and negotiation.

In this paper we describe a method for indexing and retrieval of multimedia data based on annotation and segmentation. Our goal is the retrieval of segments of audio and video suitable for inclusion in multimedia documents. Annotation refers to the association of text data with particular time locations of the media. Segmentation is the partitioning of continuous media into homogenous regions. Retrieval is performed over segments of the media using the annotations associated with the segments. We present two scenarios that describe how these techniques might be applied. In the first, we describe how excerpts from a video-taped usage study of a new device are located for inclusion in a report on the utility of the device. In the second, we show how sound bites from a recorded meeting are obtained for use in authoring a summary of the meeting.

Because a hypermedia document is more complex than conventional text, it requires preparation with respect to two key aspects. First, the author begins to develop a "vision" of the document-usually based on some outline-level description of his objectives. At the same time, as this outline is being developed, the author begins to extract useful segments from his resource materials and prepares his first version of the logic of a system of hyperlinks among those segments. In this paper we present a system named "Authoring Environment for the deSktOP" (AESOP) with two different types of "outlining" tools to handle these aspects. Planning the "vision" consists in defining a "logical" tree structure of the document. The plan for the link structure is based on a primitive unit called the view area, and AESOP provides a construct named Bento-Box for creating and manipulating view areas. Authors specify spatial and temporal layout within a single Bento-Box and define hyperlinks among the Bento-Boxes.

As the concept of what constitutes a "content-based" search grows more mature, it becomes valuable for us to establish a clear sense of just what is meant by "content." Recent multimedia document retrieval systems have dealt with this problem by indexing across multiple indexes; but it is important to identify how such multiple indexes are dealing with multiple dimensions of a description space, rather than simply providing the user with more descriptors. In this paper we consider a description space for multimedia documents based on three "dimensions" of a document, namely context, form, and content. We analyze the nature of this space with respect to three challenging examples of multimedia search tasks, and we address the nature of the index structures that would facilitate how these tasks may be achieved. These examples then lead us to some general conclusions on the nature of multimedia indexing and the intuitions we have inherited from the tradition of books and libraries.

The prevalence of audio and video options on computers, coupled with the promise of bandwidth, have many prognosticators predicting a revolution in human communications. But what if the revolution materializes and no users show up? We were confronted with this question when we began deploying and studying the use of a video-based, background awareness application within our organization. Repeatedly, new users raised strong concerns about self-presentation, surveillance, privacy, video snapshots, and lack of audience cues. We describe how we addressed these concerns by evolving the application. As a consequence, we are also redesigning the user interface to the application.

The phenomenal interest and growth of the World Wide Web as an application server has pushed the Web model to its limits. Specifically, the Web offers limited interactivity and versatility as a platform for networked applications. One major challenge for the HCI community is to determine how to improve the human-computer interface for Web-based applications. This paper focuses on a significant Web deficiency - supporting truly interactive and dynamic form-based input. We propose a well-worked form interaction abstraction that alleviates this Web deficiency. We describe how the abstraction is seamlessly integrated into the Web framework by leveraging on the virtues of the Web and fitting within the interaction and usage model of the Web.

This paper addresses the issue of how research methodology can be developed for the specific needs of research into information exploration behavior, based on a four year program of research on individual strategies in information exploration. We propose a meta-experimental framework where research is carried out through a dynamic interaction between what and why questions, and between confirmatory and exploratory analyses. This approach preserves many of the advantages of formal experimentation, while permitting a more holistic examination of phenomena that is characteristic of ethnography. The application of the meta-theoretical framework is illustrated in three case studies that examined new information exploration functionalities and interfaces and their relationship to expertise and exploration strategy.

The newspaper represents a mature information presentation medium that is well-suited to the presentation of relatively short, loosely related pieces of text. This work examines the implementation of the newspaper metaphor in an information exploration interface. Based on an analysis of differences between electronic books and electronic newspapers, we submit that the newspaper metaphor is an appropriate interface paradigm for large-scale full-text databases. Similarities between newspapers and hypertext databases lead us to suggest that this metaphor is appropriate for large automatically-generated hypertexts, independent of the nature of their content. We describe VOIR, a software prototype that we have used as an electronic newspaper workbench. The program constructs newspaper pages interactively, and allows users to specify their information-seeking intent in a variety of ways, including graphical Boolean queries, hypertext links, and typed-in queries. Finally, we discuss some implications that this work has for hypertext and information retrieval in general.

This paper examines the semiotic nature of the hypertext document from two points of view, both of which are based on Roland Barthes' ELEMENTS OF SEMIOLOGY. From the more conventional point of view, the hypertext document is discussed with respect to the four areas analyzed by Barthes: the distinction between language and speech, the relationship between the signifier and the signified, the syntagmatic and associative relationships among signs, and the hierarchical embedding of signs through connotation and metalanguage. The second examination is a hypertext document designed in such a way that the reader may EXPERIENCE Barthes' elements of semiology, rather than serve as a passive receiver of his exposition. The result is an interactive environment in its own right, entitled "Signs and Links," that, through the experience of interaction, engages the reader in the definition of the conceptual space of Barthes' text.

Digestor is a software system which automatically re-authors arbitrary documents from the world-wide web to display appropriately on small screen devices such as PDAs and cellular phones, providing device-independent access to the web. Digestor is implemented as an HTTP proxy which dynamically re-authors requested web pages using a heuristic planning algorithm and a set of structural page transformations to achieve the best looking document for a given display size.

Traditionally hypertexts have been limited in size by the manual effort required to create hypertext links. In addition, large hyper-linked collections may overwhelm users with the range of possible links from any node, only a fraction of which may be appropriate for a given user at any time. This work explores automatic methods of link construction based on feedback from users collected during browsing. A full-text search engine mediates the linking process. Query terms that distinguish well among documents in the database become candidate anchors; links are mediated by passage-based relevance feedback queries. The newspaper metaphor is used to organize the retrieval results. VOIR, a software prototype that implements these algorithms has been used to browse a 74,500 node (250MB) database of newspaper articles. An experiment has been conducted to test the relative effectiveness of dynamic links and user-specified queries. Experimental results suggest that link-mediated queries are more effective than user-specified queries in retrieving relevant information. The paper concludes with a discussion of possible extensions to the linking algorithms.

Dynomite is a portable electronic notebook for the capture and retrieval of handwritten and audio notes. The goal of Dynomite is to merge the organization, search, and data acquisition capabilities of a computer with the benefits of a paper-based notebook. Dynomite provides novel solutions in four key problem areas. First, Dynomite uses a casual, low cognitive overhead interface. Second, for content indexing of notes, Dynomite uses ink properties and keywords. Third, to assist organization, Dynomite's properties and keywords define views, presenting a subset of the notebook content that dynamically changes as users add new information. Finally, to augment handwritten notes with audio on devices with limited storage, Dynomite continuously records audio, but only permanently stores those parts highlighted by the user.

Video-based awareness tools increase familiarity among remote group members and provide pre-communication information. Low-cost iconic indicators provide less but more succinct information than video images while preserving privacy. Observations of and feedback from users of our video awareness tool suggest that an activity sensing feature along with a variety of privacy options combines advantages of both the video images and iconic indicator approaches. We introduced the activity sensing feature in response to user requests. It derives activity information from video images and provides options to control privacy and improves the usability of video-based awareness tools.

Dynomite is a portable electronic notebook that merges the benefits of paper note-taking with the organizational capabilities of computers. Dynomite incorporates four complementary features which combine to form an easy to use system for the capture and retrieval of handwritten and audio notes. First, Dynomite has a paper-like user interface. Second, Dynomite uses ink properties and keywords for content indexing of notes. Third, Dynomite's properties and keywords allows retrieval of specific ink and notes. The user is shown a view, or a subset of the notebook content, that dynamically changes as new information is added. Finally, Dynomite continuously records audio, but only permanently stores highlighted portions so that it is possible to augment handwritten notes with audio on devices with limited storage.

Hypertext interfaces are considered appropriate for information exploration tasks. The prohibitively expensive link creation effort, however, prevents traditional hypertext interfaces from being used with large coherent collections of text. Such collections typically require query-based interfaces. This paper examines a hybrid approach: the system described here creates anchors dynamically based on users' queries, and uses anchor selection as a query expansion mechanism. An experiment was conducted to compare browsing behavior in query- and link-based interfaces. Results suggest that query-mediated links are as effective as explicit queries, and that strategies adopted by users affect performance. This work has implications for the design of information exploration interfaces; the dynamic link algorithms described here are being incorporated into a Web server.

Palplates are a collection of touch-screen terminals placed around the office enabling human-computer interactions at the point of need. Supporting a community of mobile authenticated workers with a small number of stationary devices is an alternative to providing each person with a portable wireless computer. In contrast to the PC's desktop metaphor, Palplates use a place metaphor that reflect the actual rooms, corridors, and buildings that are part of the office place. Users interact graphically with applications supported by a geographic database. The user interface is generated dynamically based on the user's identity, the point-of-access, and the changing collection of physical office equipment, electronic documents and applications present at any given location.

In this chapter, we discuss mixed-media access, an information access paradigm for multimedia data in which the media type of a query may differ from that of the data. This allows a single query to be used to retrieve information from data consisting of multiple types of media. In addition, multiple queries formulated in different media types can be used to more accurately specify the data to be retrieved. The types of media considered in this paper are speech, images of text, and full-length text. Some examples of metadata for mixed-media access are locations of keywords in speech and images, identification of speakers, locations of emphasized regions in speech, and locations of topic boundaries in text. Algorithms for automatically generating this metadata are described, including word spotting, speaker segmentation, emphatic speech detection, and subtopic boundary location. We illustrate the use of mixed-media access with an example of information access from multimedia data surrounding a formal presentation.

The discipline of narratology has long recognized the need to classify documents as instances of different text types. We have discovered that classification is as applicable to hypermedia as it is to any other document presentation. Following the work of S. Chatman (1978; 1990), we consider three such text types: description, argument and narrative. The goal of a description document is to describe some object or concept; this is usually achieved by describing component parts and then describing how those parts combine to constitute the entirety. An argument document, on the other hand, is concerned with establishing some assertion or point of view, and it is based on supporting evidence, as well as possible refutations and justifications for defeating those regulations. Finally, a narrative document recounts some sequence of events in time, addressing relationships such as causality and contingency among those events. We analyze these types through case studies that give an example of each as a hypermedia document. We then argue that this classification provides an organizational framework that facilitates the construction of outlines that serve the writer in preparing the actual content of a document. Such outlines can also benefit the reader's understanding of the content that the writer intended to convey; if the writer does not make those outlines available explicitly to the reader, the reader can use knowledge of the document type to construct his own version of those outlines. Finally, we review some early work in content based indexing and search of multimedia documents

S.W. Smoliar, J.D. Baker, T. Nakayama, and L. Wilcox,

An approach to semantics based on traditional paradigms of knowledge representation (e.g., developing reductionist models of video document genres), while not entirely of the mark, may be significantly misdirected. Understanding the semantics of video and multimedia must begin with understanding how video (and film) are "read" and "written." The purpose of this paper is to set an agenda for coming to an understanding of reading and writing multimedia and to address the representationalist implications of achieving that end. Further, we illustrate this research agenda, showing how we have applied concepts and methods from film theory (to the reading process) and interaction analysis (to the work of multimedia production), and what our preliminary findings might mean for computational support and knowledge representation in multimedia.

The fundamental objective of Extended Media research is the empowering of documents through technology. We see our goal as that of inventing documents which communicate more effectively. Furthermore, we need to make it easier for the writer to record what must be communicated and for the reader to access it. Thus, we anticipate that one cannot invent new documents without also inventing new processes for both writing and reading. Our primary research thrust is thus in the authoring of hypermedia documents, supplemented by a secondary thrust concerned with the problem of managing archives and libraries where more than text is involved.

We have developed a technique that categorizes document images based on their content. Unlike conventional methods that use optical character recognition (OCR), we convert document images into word shape takens, a shape-based representation of words. Because we have only to recognize simple graphical features from image, this process is much faster than OCR. Although the mapping between word shape tokens and words is one-to-many, they are a rich source of information for content characterization. Using a vector space classifier with a scanned document image database, we show that the word shape token-based approach is quite adequate for content-oriented categorization in terms of accuracy compared with conventional OCR-based approaches.