Project Report
Information Design – Spring 2004
Project Title: XML from the top of the mountain
Creators (in alphabetical order):
 Jan Arne Leszczynski
 Vu Phi Mai
 Irwan Syahrir
 Thomas Viken
URL: http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~vum/inf4210
Contents
Contents .......................................................................................................................................................... 1
Idea for the project.......................................................................................................................................... 1
Ontology .................................................................................................................................................... 1
Polyscopic or Monoscopic? .................................................................................................................. 2
Methodology .............................................................................................................................................. 2
Interface Design ......................................................................................................................................... 2
Achievement ................................................................................................................................................... 3
Experience ...................................................................................................................................................... 5
Reference ........................................................................................................................................................ 5
Idea for the project
As stated in the preliminary description, the theme we are presenting is XML and
the tool we use to present is Macromedia Flash. The finished result is intended to be an
encyclopedic resource of XML.
Ontology
Before we started working on this project, we considered all the factors involved
and created the set of concept definitions (ontology) in the domain of this specific
project. Firstly, we identified the set of topic entries that comprise the body of knowledge
of XML or in other words, everything there is to know about XML. Secondly, we
identified the set of scopes of the future users of the system. Scope here means area of
need. The principle assumption behind this is that not all users want to know everything
there is to know. The scopes are ranging from users of the beginner level to the advance
one; from the casual need of knowledge, e.g. simply want to know what XML is or what
the current issues are, etc, to the more serious one, e.g. detail specification of the
stylesheet, and so on.
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Polyscopic or Monoscopic?
We are aiming at designing a system which enable users to see XML in their own
scopes. As stated by Dino in his article on Polyscopic Modelling Definition (Karabeg,
2004) in Postulate 2: “scope is whatever determines our view”. In our case the key
question to determine the scope is the “how much we need to know”. At this point we are
certain that we design a scope-based system in the sense that the user view will be
determined by the scopes we are going to impose on the system.
In Postulate 4: “By definition, polyscopic modelling is the practice of designing
information by defining scopes”. He also wrote, “Polyscopic modelling is a departure
from traditional informing practices which are confined to the scopes of traditional
discipline of profession” (Karabeg, 2004). At this point we are not sure whether we are
doing a polyscopic modelling. Previously stated, our design will have several instances of
scope determined by a single criterion namely the “how much you need to know”. We are
wondering whether it is a departure from traditional informing practices or simply a
fancy way of doing one – with all the flash and web technology.
Methodology
Having the sets of topic entries and scopes, our next step is to map between the
two. In doing this we use two books on XML (Harold, 2002) and (Holzner, 2001) which
we consider comprehensive enough to provide us with topic entries. The set of scopes
was obtained by doing several brainstorming sessions. The group members reflected on
their experience in learning new technology which happen quite often in the information
technology field.
After establishing the relation between the set of needs and the set of topics, the
next step will be to implement them in our information system. As stated in the
assignment requirement, we are going to use Macromedia Flash and HTML technology
to implement our design. Macromedia Flash will serve as the interface to the user and
HTML will serve as the actual document that contains the topic entries.
Interface Design
As the lecture goes by we gain several insights that to some extent lead the design
decisions. The aforementioned insights are as follows:
 “Mountain” Metaphor
It struck us at the first meeting of the group that mountain can be a useful
metaphor to illustrate our topic. Every time one starts learning a programming
language or such a knowledge, one is usually face with an overwhelming,
mountainous amount of information. Moreover, as often stated in the lectures, we
can see the mountain of information in many ways corresponding to where we are
in the mountain: mountain-top view, in-the-forest view, mountain-down view
which gives a sense of different perspective. In our project, we interpreted the
difference as difference in details, i.e. the higher you are on the mountain the
more general the information you see.
 Visual Presentation
In order to follow up the metaphor, we actually display a picture of a mountain
which is divided into several areas of the scopes. This visualization is
implemented in such a way that it embodies our mountain metaphor. This
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includes images such as clouds, a mountain climber/hiker, a rescue plane
dropping a package to the forest.
Human Memory
According to the principle of short term memory, human can only remember 7±2
chunks of information. Theoretically, more than that number will be
overwhelming for most people. This insight is incorporated in our design,
especially the main page. We divide the mountain into 7 areas/scopes (will be
elaborated in later section) plus 2 additional scopes represented by the hiker and
the plane.
Mind Map concept of radiant thinking
When a user chooses an area of the mountain, it indicates that she decides to view
our mountain in that specific scope. The scope will be zoomed and becomes the
center part of the screen surrounded by clouds of topic entries around it. At this
point we incorporate the notion of radiant thinking from the founder of Mind
Map, Tony Buzan (Buzan, 1996) . Human being thinks and remembers better in a
radiant way instead of linear top-down one. By displaying the main topic in the
center and the entries surrounding it, we hope to provide the big picture of the
scope before the go into the more detailed content of the topic entry.
Help System
Help System is the most obvious part of the design. This system will guide new
user to use the system as intended. In the interface the help system used an
intuitive metaphor of a notice board by the edge of the mountain.
Achievement
In the section, we are going to explain in details what we have achieved in the project.
To avoid repetition we will refer to the previous section, especially where we manage to
implement the ideas.
Interface
We implemented the idea elaborated in the interface design section using Flash
technology. Having more time and resource, further development of design that
considers more detail insights such as the use of fonts, colour, media, and so on
will be possible.
Mapping of topic entries and scopes
We listed some topic entries from difference sources to get the whole picture of
the XML domain.
The following picture shows the mapping of topic entries and scopes:
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Website
The content of topic entries are organized as a website. Due to efficiency of
access, we completely separated the flash interface with the web pages. The
interface will always be available while user is viewing the content. After viewing
the content, user can always go back to the main interface.
Sample Content
In order to illustrate the actual system, we populate our system with actual
contents for each entry in the scope of use.
Experience
 General
In general the team has done a very good work in terms of the group activity. We
maintain a weekly meeting session that constantly monitor what we achieve. This
has been a learning experience for all of us regarding both the course content and
teamwork.
 Design Phase
The team started working early in the semester with a little idea about what
Information Design is. In the brainstorming session we agreed on using the
mountain metaphor literally as the centre idea of our design. Along the way we
acquired more concepts and ideas to the design before going to the
implementation phase.
 Implementation Phase
The implementation phase started a little bit behind schedule due to the
availability of Macromedia Flash in the campus. Beside that we did not
experience any serious problem during the implementation stage. We did have to
change little details of the project here and there as we incorporate new ideas. The
fact that some of us know more about Flash or other subjects makes the team
work more rewarding. We had the chance to learn something new.
Reference
Buzan, T. B. (1996) The Mind Map Book, Plume.
Harold, E. R. M., W. Scott (2002) XML in a Nutshell, O'reilly.
Holzner, S. (2001) Inside XML, New Riders.
Karabeg, D. (2004) In Changing Tides. Selected Readings of IVLA(Ed, Griffin, R.).
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