Re: Applying the lens metaphor to semantic data (Was: tFacet)

Steffan,
Thank you for the reply and details.
I hope I get a bit of time to play around in this area, retrieval from large
data sets.
Time permitting I would like to build my own demonstration application, but
my reasons are in the intervening technology as much as in the front end. So
I have a long path to go down.

I would like to investigate if there is anything to my intuition that a lens
is a filter of a flow through it (apart from that this is truistic).
There are other things that come to mind that I would like investigate:the
relationship between a table row of data and a scatter plot, since the
first, where each cell is an object in context, is comprehensible but
doesn't reveal strength of connection while the latter loses context while
revealing strength of connection - I think.

So things to look at for me.

Best,

Adam


On 16 May 2011 12:30, Steffen Lohmann <slohmann@inf.uc3m.es> wrote:

>  Adam / list,
>
> we also considered lenses to be a powerful yet intuitive interaction
> methaphor, leading to the creation of SemLens. SemLens is, of course, not
> the first approach that applies this metaphor to the Semantic Web - other
> popular examples include Fresnel or Haystack. But we think we found a very
> generic and intuitive solution with SemLens. The "Semantic Lenses" in
> SemLens are based on the Magic Lens idea (that you mentioned, Adam) and
> apply it to the Semantic Web. In contrast to other approaches, the lenses
> are binary, i.e. an object either meets the filter criterion or not,
> indicated by a change of its color in the scatter plot visualization. This
> allows for an easy and explorative construction of Boolean expressions on
> semantic data, simply by combining lenses and setting the logical operators
> accordingly.
>
> We are currently writing a paper on this approach that will explain it in
> more detail. We also motivate and contrast it with faceted browsing, since -
> as you mentioned - the lenses are a nice alternative to static lists and
> global check boxes; as are the scatter plots. We will link this paper on the
> SemLens website as soon as it is published. For now, we can only invite
> everyone to try out the live demo at http://semlens.visualdataweb.org and
> experience the ease of interaction.
>
> Cheers,
> Steffen
>
> --
> On 13.05.2011 12:01, adasal wrote:
>
> List, I asked if SemLens and tFacet will be available on google code.
> Philip replied "tFacet will be on google code in the next weeks.
> SemLens is not sure yet."
>
> Philip thanks, I thought maybe to share with list.
> Funnily enough it is SemLens that attracts me.
>
> I have always thought that a lens is a very powerful and under used visual
> metaphor. (Because a lens implies the passage of something through it. I
> think used most powerfully when capturing movement or transition.)
> My thinking is to use something like SemLens to browse faceted results
> where I understand faceted results to be objects returned with properties or
> types enumerated. This seems more intuitive than check box selectors, and
> leads to discovery in a way that check boxes do not. Anyway it would be a
> beginning use, but this would not capture movement as I suggest though.
> Perhaps that depends on the collection of properties?
>
> It reminds me of the work at http://cpntools.org/
> discussed in many papers including this [1] .
> The work on Toolglass and Magic Lens by Xerox Parc [2] (Xerox Corporation
> own the trade marks for these names.)
> I think there is also the work on e.g. Piccolo from University of Maryland
> [3], which covers issues associated with lenses.
>
> Adam
>
> ---------------
> [1]:Redesigning Design/CPN: Integrating Interaction and Petri Nets In Use
> [2]:http://www2.parc.com/istl/projects/MagicLenses/93Siggraph.html
> [3]:http://www.piccolo2d.org/
>
> On 13 May 2011 08:50, Philipp Heim <heim.philipp@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
>>  Hi,
>>
>> tFacet will be on google code in the next weeks.
>> SemLens is not sure yet.
>>
>> Regards
>> Philipp
>>
>> Am 12.05.2011 23:52, schrieb adasal:
>>
>> Hi,
>> tFacet and SemLens are not on google code. Are they planned to be?
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Adam Saltiel
>>
>> On 11 May 2011 10:43, Philipp Heim <philipp.heim@vis.uni-stuttgart.de>wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> we are happy to announce the release of tFacet, a new tool that applies
>>> known interaction concepts to allow hierarchical-faceted exploration of RDF
>>> data.
>>>
>>> More information can be found on:
>>> http://tfacet.visualdataweb.org
>>>
>>> Best
>>> Sören & Philipp
>>>
>>> --
>>> Philipp Heim . Visualization and Interactive Systems Group (VIS)
>>> University of Stuttgart . Universitaetstrasse 38 . D-70569 Stuttgart
>>> Room 1.061 (Computer Science Building, 1st floor)
>>> Tel.: +49 (711) 685-88364  .  Fax: +49 (711) 685-88340
>>> Email: philipp.heim@vis.uni-stuttgart.de
>>> Web: http://www.vis.uni-stuttgart.de
>>> Current research: http://www.vis.uni-stuttgart.de/~heimpp/
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>   --
>> ______________________________________________________
>> Philipp Heim . Visualization and Interactive Systems Group (VIS)
>> University of Stuttgart . Universitaetstrasse 38 . D-70569 Stuttgart
>> 1.061 (Computer Science Building, 1st floor)
>> Tel.: +49 (711) 7816-364  .  Fax: +49 (711) 7816-340
>> E: philipp.heim@vis.uni-stuttgart.de  .  http://www.vis.uni-stuttgart.de
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Steffen Lohmann - DEI Lab
> Computer Science Department, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
> Avda de la Universidad 30, 28911 Leganés, Madrid (Spain), Office: 22A20
> Phone: +34 916 24-9419, http://www.dei.inf.uc3m.es/slohmann/
>
>