Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!sun-barr!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!dali.cs.montana.edu!milton!wex@dali.pws.bull.com From: wex@dali.pws.bull.com (Buckaroo Banzai) Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds Subject: Re: Semantic space, maps Message-ID: Date: 29 Aug 90 16:12:52 GMT References: <9007250107.AA01311@hitl.vrnet.washington.edu> Sender: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu Organization: Bull Worldwide Information Systems Inc. Lines: 33 Approved: hitl@hardy.u.weashington.edu In article brucec%phoebus.phoebus.labs.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET (Bruce Cohen;;50-662;LP=A;) writes: I mean a map which is intended to show the geographic distribution of some non-geographic entity. For instance, maps of the food products produced by various regions, or usage of energy. I honestly don't know where I got the term, and I can't find a definition anywhere. I suppose that it's a relict of 5th grade geography class (which was much longer ago than I like to remember). The closest term I can find is "special-subject map". Is that familiar? No, but your example is familiar. At CHI this year, Ben Schneiderman and I were discussing using just these kinds of maps to help people with the "lost in hyperspace" problem that hypertext users have. I think this issue is closely related to the semantic-space issues because in order to construct special-subject maps, one has to have an idea of the background against which the data is taken. This is generally hard, but implementationally easier in that one is usually not working with a totally random data set. Instead, you're working with the contents of a knowledge- or object-base which you know something about (e.g. it might be an office document archive, or a CASE database). This makes it possible to create backgrounds which would be cognitive (and system) artifacts associated with regions in cyberspace. Alternatively, you can make them a property of the view. What is "the view" you ask? Don't ask - it's another whole chapter. :-) -- --Alan Wexelblat phone: (508)294-7485 Bull Worldwide Information Systems internet: wex@pws.bull.com "Politics is Comedy plus Pretense."