#SECTION# Workspace #SECTION_END# #OWNER#jmeyer@cs.umd.edu#OWNER_END# #AUTHOR# Meyer, Jeff (jmeyer@cs.umd.edu) #AUTHOR_END# #AUTHOR# Wanken, James (jwanken@cs.umd.edu) #AUTHOR_END# #ALL_AUTHOR# {jmeyer,jwanken}@cs.umd.edu #ALL_AUTHOR_END# #BACKGROUND# Anyone who has ever used a computer in a multiple window environment can come up with the same resounding complaint: "There is never enough screen space." But, those people who work in the information visualization domain of workspaces would phrase that complaint in a slightly different way, and it would be one that complains that the developers of computer environments don't take enough of an advantage of the space that they have!

Not every user of a computer needs the same design in their workspace, and this seems to be the lesson that workspace information visualizers take to heart in development. It seems that different sets of people will require different ways to have their workspaces set up, and so they require different solutions to the same kind of general problem: how do I organize the workspace to get the most information visually to the user?

The workspace visualization domain consists of two types of classes: (1) attempting to get more windows on the screen in an organized way and (2) attempting to modify the work environment with new information. The first class does not try to add new information to the workspace, but it tries to organize the workspace to allow the user to see more things at once. Elastic Windows from the University of Maryland and Pad++ from the University of New Mexico are examples of this. The second class attempts to add new things like virtual reality and/or virtual conferencing to put new types of information on the screen, Concurrent Technologies Corporation's Collaborative Computing and Multimedia Conferencing by Lucent Technologies are examples of this.

#BACKGROUND_END# #USER# Business people using conference workspace software #USER_END# #USER# Scientists using collaborative computing software #USER_END# #USER# Any person who users a computer to develop new ideas #USER_END# #TASK# Enable users to view and interact with computer screen layouts in a more efficient manner. #TASK_END# #TASK# Allow geographically dispersed users to collaborate and interact concurrently. #TASK_END# #TASK# Synthesize information, expertise, and results to create high quality solutions. #TASK_END# #TASK# Organize, interact, and search task related information efficiently. #TASK_END# #TASK# Allow rapid access and restructuring for task information. #TASK_END# #CITATION# Card, Stuart, K., Robertson, George G., and York, William, The WebBook and the Web Forager: an information workspace for the World-Wide Web, In: CHI '96. Conference Proceedings on Human Factors in Computing Systems, page 111. #CITATION_END# #CITATION# Card, S.K., Robertson, G.G. and Makinlay, J.D. The Information Visualizer: An information workspace. In: SIGCHI '91. Conference Proceedings on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1991, pp. 181-188. #CITATION_END# #CITATION# Henerson, D.A. and Card, S.K. Rooms: The use of multiple virtual workspaces to reduce space contention in a window-based graphical user interface. ACM Transactions Graph. 5, 3, (July 1986), pp.211-243. #CITATION_END# #CITATION# Kuzuoka, Hideaki, Spatial workspace collaboration: a SharedView video support system for remote collaboration capability, In: SIGCHI '92. Conference Proceedings on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 533-540. #CITATION_END# #CITATION# Shneiderman B., Plaisant, C. (May 1994) The future of graphic user interfaces: personal role managers, People and Computers IX, British Computer Society's HCI 94 (Glasgow, Scotland, Aug. 1994) Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, U.K.) 3-8. #CITATION_END# #CITATION# Lundell, Jay Designing a "Front Panel" for Unix: The Evolution of a Metaphor, In: SIGCHI '95. Conference Proceedings on Human Factors in Computer Systems. #CITATION_END# #CITATION# Spring, Michael, Morse, Emile, and Heo. Misook. Multi-level Navigation of a Document Space. University of Pittsburgh. 22 Sept 1996. #CITATION_END# #CITATION# Card, Stuart K.Visualizing Retrieved Information: A Survey. Computer Graphics and Visualization in the Global Information Infrastructure CG&A, Vol 16, No. 2, March 1996. #CITATION_END# #CITATION# Hearst, Marti, Kopec, Gary, Brotsky, Dan. Research in Support of Digital Libraries at Xerox PARC. D-Lib Magazine, June 1996. #CITATION_END# #CITATION# Fairchild, Kim M. Xerox PARC's Animated 3D Visualizations: The Perspective Wall and The Cone Tree. Information Visualization. 7 FEB 1996. #CITATION_END# #PROJECT# Elastic Windows University of Maryland - Provides a hierarchical window organization that allows for rapid multiple window management. #PROJECT_END# #PROJECT# Multimedia Conferencing Lucent Technologies - Conferees can see a simulated representatives of themselves at the conference which mimic their actions. #PROJECT_END# #PROJECT# WorkSpace (Project site) Cornell University - WorkSpace is a three dimensional windowing toolkit for virtual reality. This interface grew out of a desire to transfer the ease of running multiple applications in a 2D computer environment into the realm of 3D virtual reality (VR). Also available is a more general overview of WorkSpace from the Cornell Theory Center. #PROJECT_END# #PRODUCT# Visualization Services Cornell's WorkSpace is built on top of Visual Insight Zone (VIZ) to allow an immersive, 3D environment for business and industry. #PRODUCT_END# #PRODUCT# Virtual Workbench National Applied Software Engineering Center - Virtual Workbench that enables users to view and interact with scenes displayed on a workspace similar to a table top. 3-D scenes, contact gloves and electromagnetic tracking devices are all used to make this an immersive environment. #PRODUCT_END# #PRODUCT# Collaborative Computing Concurrent Technologies Corporation - Using immersive applications, people in different locations can collaborate and interact simultaneously within the same scenario while being visible to each other virtually. #PRODUCT_END# #PRODUCT# Trestle Reference Manual Digital - A research project that replicates a share of the workstation's screen, keyboard, and mouse. Also available is tutorial which demonstrates the basic use of the system ( Trestle Tutorial ). #PRODUCT_END# #PRODUCT# Pad++ University of New Mexico - Zoomable workspace interface (AKA multiscale interfaces). #PRODUCT_END# #PRODUCT# Personal Role Managers University of Maryland - Multiple window coordination for visual information access in high performance user interfaces. #PRODUCT_END# #VIDEO# Elastic Windows - Ben Shneiderman and Eser Kandogan (5:00). #VIDEO_END# #VIDEO# Elastic Windows for Rapid Multiple Window Management - Eser Kandogan (6:49). #VIDEO_END# #VIDEO# Organization overviews and role management - Inspiration for future desktop environments - Catherine Plaisant and Ben Shneiderman (9:39). #VIDEO_END# #VIDEO# Organization Overviews and Role Management: Inspiration for Future Desktop Environments - Catherine Plaisant and Ben Shneiderman. #VIDEO_END# #VIDEO# Documents as User Interfaces - Xerox PARC. #VIDEO_END# #VIDEO# Telepathology Workstation Exploring Remote Images: A Telepathology Workstation. #VIDEO_END#