BOG1
Information Organization and Context
(How to make sense in a data rich world)

BOG1 Themes and Issues

Information Organization and Context

Michael Lesk and Gio Wiederhold


Michael Lslek, January 3, 1997:

Possible themes and issues for BOG 1,
Data visualization: how can very detailed or multidimensional data
be presented in an understandable way?  What kinds of automatic methods
can decide on presentation style?  What kinds of analysis tools are most
useful for decision making?

Massive data sources: what are the kinds of very large data sources
with which we may have to deal?  Geographic? Medical? Astronomical?
Business records?  Are there special techniques needed for these areas?
If so, what?

New technologies: what kinds of new developments in display devices
or interface gadgets are likely?  What will they make possible?  What
research needs to be done to use them effectively?

Data modeling: what can we do to model large data sets?  What kind of
research is needed at the interface between statistics and displays?
Is "knowledge-based" modeling going to be useful for very large data
arrays? 

And the overriding theme: what might NSF establish as a "challenge problem"
for researchers in this area?

.................................................................
I'm not sure this is what you are looking for.  Another possibility is
to mention some projects in this area that we admire or think are
important (the Information Wall at Xerox Parc, the Visible Human,
the "wearable" computer, etc) and ask what should come next.  Let me
know.
...................................................................



Gio Wiederhold, January 6, 1997:

Elaborating on Michael's point re challenge problems I would like BOG1 
to consider

Effective, deep modeling of the computer service customer's needs.

(or User Friendliness beyond personalized icons, windows, and toolbars.)



Tom Huang, January 10, 1997

Here are some comments and suggestions to help you formulate
a statement for BOG1 Themes and Issues.

As I recall from our Steering Committee Meeting on Nov. 4, 1996,
BOG1 deals with issues related to an individual user interacting 
with computer systems, BOG2 to group of users, and BOG4 to group
of groups, organization, society, etc.

Applications of interest to BOG1 include:  searching for information,
doing research, learning, authoring, data mining, entertainment.

Topics of interest:  Multimedia databases and repositories, intelligent
information processing (agents, data mining, value-based information
filtering, etc.), multimodal information presentation (virtual reality,
etc.), multimodal human-computer interface (speech and vision based
interface, tactile, brain wave, etc.).  Human performance and cognition.

______________________________________________________________________

Gio, Michael, January 21, 1997:

This working group will analyze issues dealing with improving the
usability of information systems for users that operate in a specific
context.  An objective is to make information retrieved more
valuable by skipping irrelevant material, organizing it in a
meaningful way, and providing helpful meta-information as pathways and
information abstracts.

Specific topics that warrant discussion and guidance for further
research include the problems of how to define and recognize contexts,
how to classify material accordingly, how to present the current
active context, and how to avoid loss of information while using
context to reduce overload on the customer.  A social issue will be
the assignment of responsibilities and means to reward groups or
individuals for providing deep and useful meta services.

Our work will be complementary to the questions of presentation dealt
with by BOG3 and the means of communication discussed by BOG2.