Re: QED

At 12:29 PM 6/8/99 +0100, Sally Paveley wrote: 

>
> "This seems clear enough. The WAI's commitment is to making sure that the
web
> is as usable as possible to all. It is a commitment to the proper structure
> and presentation of the information stored on the web. It in no way makes
any
> demands whatsoever on the complexity of that information itself, except
> asking that it be presented in a form appropriate to context,"


For topics that are conceptually multi-dimensional. involving multiple
properties which vary with some autonomy of one another, appropriate structure
and presentation includes stepping up the presentation dimensionality where
the
user equipment and sensory capabilities allow.

The iconic example of this is the professor at the University of Virginia who
has been evaluating the CAVE device in teaching introductory mechanics.  The
concept of a moment arm is intrinsically three dimensional.  Students had no
trouble using projections, two dimensional sketches alluding to this
geometrical effect after they got the three-dimensional geometrical pattern in
their conceptual vocabulary.  But to get the idea the first time, there was
nothing like the three-dimensional visualization to get the idea across.

Encoding words in GIFs hides the information from some.  But so does
over-reliance on the verbally articulated encoding of information.

For leading-edge work on the cognitive agenda, see
<<http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/>http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/>.  For leading-edge work
on immersive environments and scalable environments which flex to go immersive
or mobile, search on PACI and then follow links to "immersive environments"
and
"interaction environments."  These are just examples I happen to be in touch
with.  There are likely others.

If you find anything in the interaction environments area you would like to
experiment with in the areas of characterizing human sensory, perceptual, and
cognitive performance and how to make resources flex to different
problem-attack strategies, please let me know.  I owe these media researchers
information on where to apply their capabilities next.

Al

Received on Tuesday, 8 June 1999 11:43:56 UTC