Information-Enriched Workspaces

Yunwen YeAspen Symposium

Introduction• Distributed cognition

• Knowledge-intensive activities require knowledge from the user and the world

• Easy access to external information is essential to the performance of such activities

• Information-enriched workspaces• Immediate access to external information

within the workspace

Current Model of Information Repository Systems

Knowing the existence of information

Evaluating the information

Articulating the queries

Applying the information

Workspace

Information Repository System

Information-Enriched Workspace (IEW)

• Information acquisition as a part of work processes

• Integration of acquiring and applying information

Information Repository

Information Display

Information-Enriched Workspace

Design Principles for IEW (1/2)• Integration

• Reducing the memory loss caused by context switch• Multiple communication channels

• Explicit communication channel• Implicit communication channel

• Layered information• Information discernment vs. detailed evaluation• Details on demand: progressive revelation of detailed

information• ……

Design Principles for IEW (2/2)• Natural interface

• Consistent operation style with working environments• Information delivery

• Providing access to unknown information• Shared understanding of the larger context

• Taking into consideration of larger context of current task

• User-specific• Accommodating individual difference in knowledge

An Example: CodeBroker

Programming Environment

Reusable Components Information Display

Listener

Fetcher

Reuse Queries

Presenter

Retrieved Components

ComponentRepository

Programmers

reuse

Agent-based task-specific delivery

• Interface agents for repository systems• Combining information access and

information delivery• Invoking the component-locating process directly

from the programming environment• Command style consistent with Emacs operations

• Delivery of potentially reusable components based on programmer’s task

• Modeling the task based on comments and signatures

Agent-based task-specific delivery

Programming Environment

Reusable Components Information Display

Listener

Fetcher

Reuse Queries

Presenter

Retrieved Components

ComponentRepository

Programmers

reuse

Concept: Create a random number between two limitsConstraint: int <- int x int

Shared Larger Context• By specifying the high-level goal• By incremental discourse modeling to capture

the (un)interested information

Specifying (un)interested packages or classes

Remove uninterested packages or classes

User-specific• Removing known components from the

information display based on user models• Adaptable and adaptive user modeling

Add java.awt.CardLayout to the user model

Add java.util.Vector.addElement to the user model

Layered Information• Short description in the information display (name

and synopsis)• Mouse-sensitive information (signatures and

matching keywords)• Detailed information in an external browser• Example programs

• Links to experts Example programs

Example programs