Addressing Information Sharing in Directable Interfaces via DIARE Concept

DIARE Concept Snapshot

Decision Information Abstracted to a Relevant Encapsulation (DIARE) is based on the idea that evidence for a particular decision can be represented as a defined volume in the visualization’s information space spanning six components [x, y, e, t, s, m]. This defined volume becomes an object, or DIARE object, and contains information relating to that particular decision (i.e. range ofm) in terms of a spatial area (i.e. range of x, y, and e), time range (t), and detail range (v). A DIARE object acts as a super information object that can be shared between user levels and can itself become an element in the visualization. For example, several DIARE objects can be created by the person supervising the robots during an area survey, and later, someone else can search an overlapping area for any DIARE objects that deal with unusual items, which can cause the visualization to display one or two DIARE objects as information items on the map.

The evaluation participants generally stated that the DIARE concept’s strengths were its ability to provide: a quick visual event history overview (i.e., the timeline of DIARE objects), a quick mechanism to recall and replay important events (i.e., the ability to click on a DIARE object to recall that moment), and several useful elements when displaying a DIARE object (e.g., the DIARE object’s snapshot, information tags). These findings support the hypothesis that the DIARE concepts will facilitate information sharing across both time and users.

View of DIARE Concept in the Emergency Responses Interface as sceen in the user evaluations.

Related Papers:

Humphrey, C. M., & Adams, J. A. (2009). Addressing Information Sharing in Directable Interfaces via DIARE Concept. Manuscript in preparation.

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