Knowledge Visualization and Navigation

The information explosion has made much more knowledge available to everyone, but knowing what is available and finding what is relevant in this mass is difficult. This project seeks to improve the design of information spaces by better making use of our spatial cognition and visual perception. Examples of our approach include information spaces for journal articles, MIT EECS classes, questions and answers, and movies. We are extending this approach to visualize other domains such as object-oriented software programs.

Mark A. Foltz's research projects page has more information about the projects described in the publications below.


Papers and Publications

• Foltz, Mark (2003). Dr. Jones: A Software Design Explorer's Crystal Ball. Ph.D. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, August 2003. [PDF], 4.1 MB
  
  
• Foltz, Mark. Dr. Jones: A Software Design Explorer's Crystal Ball. MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Annual Abstract, September 2002. [PDF] [PS]
  
  
  
• Foltz, Mark, Weisman, Luke, and Gajos, Krzysztof (2001). Ligature: Gesture-Based Configuration of the E21 Intelligent Environment. MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Annual Abstract, September 2001. [PS], [PDF].
  The abstract below focuses on the Ligature user interface:
  
  
• Foltz, Mark (2001). Ligature: Gesture-Based Configuration of the E21 Intelligent Environment. Proceedings of MIT Student Oxygen Workshop, July 2001. [PS], [PDF].
  
  
• Foltz, Mark (2001). Dr. Jones: A Software Archaeologist's Magic Lens. PhD Thesis Proposal, Department of EECS, MIT. May, 2001. [PS], [PDF]
  A shorter abstract, below, describing the proposal:
  MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Annual Abstract, September 2001. [PS], [PDF].
  
  
• Foltz, Mark and Davis, Randall (2001). Query By Attention: Visually Searchable Information Maps. Proceedings of Fifth International Conference on Information Visualisation (InfoVis 2001), London. [PS], [PDF].
  A shorter abstract, below, describing the same work:
  MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Annual Abstract, September 2001. [PS], [PDF].
  
  
• Foltz, Mark and Davis, Randall (2000). Supporting Group Brainstorming. MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Annual Abstract, September 2000. [PS], [PDF]
  
  
• Foltz, Mark (1998). Designing Navigable Information Spaces. Master's thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [PS], [PDF]