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RI Seminar -- Steven F. Roth

• WHEN: Friday, May 6, 1994; 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm Refreshments will be served starting at 3:15 pm
• WHERE: ADAMSON WING Auditorium in Baker Hall
• SPEAKER: Steven F. Roth

          School of Computer Science
          Carnegie Mellon University
         

• TITLE: Interactive Graphic Design Using Automatic Presentation Knowledge

ABSTRACT

Graphic displays of information have been valuable for supporting data exploration, analysis, and presentation. Still, current graphics packages remain very limited because: (1) they do not provide integrative displays for viewing the relations among many data attributes or data sets (e.g. by using coordinated combinations of multiple graphical objects and properties), (2) they have time-consuming and complex interfaces, and (3) they provide little guidance for the majority of users who are not experienced graphic designers.

Our approach to these problems is to build systems that are knowledgeable of graphic design, so they can generate a variety of effective displays based on descriptions of data and viewing goals. However, the greatest impact of these techniques occurred when we focused them to support rather than replace users in the task of designing graphics.

We will describe and demonstrate three novel tools for creating data graphics:

1. SageBrush, a direct-manipulation design interface for assembling graphics from primitive objects like bars, lines and axes,
2. SageBook, a content-based query interface for browsing previously created graphics relevant to current needs, and
3. SAGE, a knowledge-based presentation system that automatically designs graphics and also interprets a user's specifications conveyed with the other tools.

The combination of these components supports two complementary design processes in a single environment: design as a constructive process of selecting and arranging graphical elements, and design as a process of browsing and customizing previous cases.

Host:           Yangsheng Xu (xu@cs.cmu.edu)
Appointment:    Lalit Katragadda (lalit@cs.cmu.edu)