Julia,
Clicking on one of Ben Shneiderman's treemapping projects reminded me
that I've always thought treemaps [1] would serve well as a browsing
interface for library and archive collections because they work well
with hierarchical data. For example, larger blocks could represent some
quantitative descriptive information (breadth, scope, size,
usage/popularity), giving users an immediate overview of the
collections. Unfortunately, it's one of those "wouldn't it be cool"
ideas that I haven't found time to play with yet.
Also, at Access2011 last week, Jer Thorpe demonstrated Open Paths [2],
which you might be interested in based on the article you sent about
travel accounts with the SIMILE widget. While you wouldn't be able to
track Lewis and Clark's adventures with this, anyone with an iPhone can
use the location data that is stores to "re-live" their own journeys.
It resonates more than you would think! It's also an interesting
paradigm of users owning their own data, contributing it to research,
and getting something in return:
[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treemapping
[2] https://openpaths.cc/
Regards,
Shaun Ellis
On 10/27/11 5:09 PM, JONATHAN LEBRETON wrote:
Ben Shneiderman at the Univ. of Maryland Comp Sci dept has done a
considerable amount of work in this area...
I would encourage browsing some of his current and past projects, linked from
his site:
http://www.cs.umd.edu/~ben/
depending on what specifically you are interested in, a number of the products
coming out of his lab are in production out in the wild...
Jonathan LeBreton
Sr. Associate University Librarian
Temple University Libraries
Paley M138, 1210 Polett Walk, Philadelphia PA 19122
voice: 215-204-8231
fax: 215-204-5201
mobile: 215-284-5070
email: [email protected]
email: [email protected]
-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
Tod Olson
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2011 4:35 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Examples of visual searching or browsing
There's the Hermitage Museum, which uses IBM's Query By Image Content:
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/fcgi-
bin/db2www/qbicSearch.mac/qbic?selLang=English
QBIC seems a bit long in the tooth now, but it's still kind of interesting.
-Tod
On Oct 27, 2011, at 3:27 PM, Julia Bauder wrote:
Dear fans of cool Web-ness,
I'm looking for examples of projects that use visual(=largely non-text and
non-numeric) interfaces to let patrons browse/search collections. Things
like the GeoSearch on North Carolina Maps[1], or projects that use Simile's
Timeline or Exhibit widgets[2] to provide access to collections (e.g.,
what's described here:
https://letterpress.uchicago.edu/index.php/jdhcs/article/download/59/70), or
in-the-wild uses of Recollection[3]. I'm less interested in knowing about
tools (although I'm never *uninterested* in finding out about cool tools)
than about production or close-to-production sites that are making good use
of these or similar tools to provide visual, non-linear access to
collections. Who's doing slick stuff in this area that deserves a look?
Thanks!
Julia
[1] http://dc.lib.unc.edu/ncmaps/search.php
[2] http://www.simile-widgets.org/
[3] http://recollection.zepheira.com/
*********************************************
Julia Bauder
Data Services Librarian
Interim Director of the Data Analysis and Social Inquiry Lab (DASIL)
Grinnell College Libraries
1111 Sixth Ave.
Grinnell, IA 50112
641-269-4431
--
Shaun D. Ellis
Digital Library Interface Developer
Firestone Library, Princeton University
voice: 609.258.1698 | [email protected]
