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Ka-Ping Yee

Other affiliations: University of California
Bio: Ka-Ping Yee is an academic researcher from University of California, Berkeley. The author has contributed to research in topics: Usability & Metadata. The author has an hindex of 10, co-authored 13 publications receiving 2391 citations. Previous affiliations of Ka-Ping Yee include University of California.

Papers
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Proceedings ArticleDOI
05 Apr 2003
TL;DR: An alternative based on enabling users to navigate along conceptual dimensions that describe the images is presented, which makes use of hierarchical faceted metadata and dynamically generated query previews.
Abstract: There are currently two dominant interface types for searching and browsing large image collections: keyword-based search, and searching by overall similarity to sample images. We present an alternative based on enabling users to navigate along conceptual dimensions that describe the images. The interface makes use of hierarchical faceted metadata and dynamically generated query previews. A usability study, in which 32 art history students explored a collection of 35,000 fine arts images, compares this approach to a standard image search interface. Despite the unfamiliarity and power of the interface (attributes that often lead to rejection of new search interfaces), the study results show that 90% of the participants preferred the metadata approach overall, 97% said that it helped them learn more about the collection, 75% found it more flexible, and 72% found it easier to use than a standard baseline system. These results indicate that a category-based approach is a successful way to provide access to image collections.

1,074 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Designing a search system and interface may best be served by scrutinizing usability studies, and the results can help guide the design and execution of search systems and interfaces.
Abstract: Designing a search system and interface may best be served (and executed) by scrutinizing usability studies.

367 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
05 Apr 2003
TL;DR: A usability study shows that the Peephole technique can be more effective than current methods for navigating information on handheld computers, and recommends two-handed interaction techniques combining pen input with spatially aware displays.
Abstract: The small size of handheld computers provides theconvenience of mobility at the expense of reduced screen space for display and interaction. Prior research has identified the value of spatially aware displays, in which a position-tracked display provides a window on a larger virtual workspace. This paper builds on that work by suggesting two-handed interaction techniques combining pen input with spatially aware displays. Enabling simultaneous navigation and manipulation yields the ability to create and edit objects larger than the screen and to drag and drop in 3-D. Four prototypes of the Peephole Display hardware were built, and several Peephole-augmented applications were written, including a drawing program, map viewer, and calendar. Multiple applications can be embedded into a personal information space anchored to the user's physical reference frame. A usability study with 24 participants shows that the Peephole technique can be more effective than current methods for navigating information on handheld computers.

298 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
22 Oct 2001
TL;DR: A method for animating the transition to a new layout when a new focus node is selected, which linearly interpolates the polar coordinates of the nodes, while enforcing ordering and orientation constraints.
Abstract: We describe a new animation technique for supporting interactive exploration of a graph. We use the well-known radial tree layout method, in which the view is determined by the selection of a focus node. Our main contribution is a method for animating the transition to a new layout when a new focus node is selected. In order to keep the transition easy to follow, the animation linearly interpolates the polar coordinates of the nodes, while enforcing ordering and orientation constraints. We apply this technique to visualizations of social networks and of the Gnutella file-sharing network, and discuss the results from our informal usability tests.

263 citations

01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: An innovative search interface that allows non-expert users to move through large information spaces in a flexible manner without feeling lost and can serve as a model for web-based collections of up to 100,000 items is developed.
Abstract: We have developed an innovative search interface that allows non-expert users to move through large information spaces in a flexible manner without feeling lost. The design goal was to offer users a “browsing the shelves” experience seamlessly integrated with focused search. Key to achieving our goal is the explicit exposure of hierarchical faceted metadata in a manner that is intuitive and inviting to users. After several iterations of design and testing, the usability results are strikingly positive. We believe our approach marks a major step forward in search user interfaces and can serve as a model for web-based collections of up to 100,000 items. Topics: Search User Interfaces, Faceted Metadata INTRODUCTION Although general Web search is steadily improving [30], studies show that search is still the primary usability problem in web site design. A recent report by Vividence Research analyzing 69 web sites found that the most common usability problem was poorly organized search results, affecting 53% of sites studied. The second most common problem was poor information architecture, affecting 32% of sites [27]. Studies of search behavior reveal that good search involves both broadening and narrowing of the query, appropriate selection of terminology, and the ability to modify the query [31]. Still others show that users often express a concern about online search systems since they do not allow a “browsing the shelves” experience afforded by physical libraries [6] and that users like wellstructured hyperlinks but often feel lost when navigating through complex sites [23]. Our goals are to support search usability guidelines [28], while avoiding negative consequences like empty result sets or feelings of being lost. We are especially interested in large collections of similar-style items (such as product catalog sites, sites consisting of collections of images, or text documents on a topic such as medicine or law). Our approach is to follow iterative design practices from the field of human-computer interaction [29], meaning that we first assess the behavior of the target users, then prototype a system, then assess that system with target users, learn from and adjust to the problems found, and repeat until a successful interface is produced. We have applied this method to the problem of creating an information architecture that seamlessly integrates navigation and free-text search into one interface. This system builds on earlier work that shows the importance of query previews [25] for indicating next choices (thus allowing the user to use recognition over recall) and avoiding empty result sets. The approach makes use of faceted hierarchical metadata (described below) as the basis for a navigation structure showing next choices, providing alternative views, and permitting refinement and expansion in new directions, while at the same time maintaining a consistent representation of the collection’s structure [14]. This use of metadata is integrated with free-text search, allowing the user to follow links, then add search terms, then follow more links, without interrupting the interaction flow. Our most recent usability studies show strong, positive results along most measured variables. An added advantage of this framework is that it can be built using off-the-shelf database technology, and it allows the contents of the collection to be changed without requiring the web site maintainer to change the system or the interface. For these reasons, we believe these results should influence the design of information architecture of information-centric web sites. In the following sections we define the metadata-based terminology, describe the interface framework as applied to a collection of architectural images, report the results of usability studies, discuss related work, and discuss the implications of these results. Submitted for Publication METADATA Content-oriented category metadata has become more prevalent in the last few years, and many people are interested in standards for describing content in various fields (e.g., Dublin Core and the Semantic Web). Web directories such as Yahoo and the Open Directory Project are familiar examples of the use of metadata for navigation structures. Web search engines have begun to interleave search hits on category labels with other search results. Many individual collections already have rich metadata assigned to their contents; for example, biomedical journal articles have on average a dozen or more content attributes attached to them. Metadata for organizing content collections can be classified along several dimensions: • The metadata may be faceted, that is, composed of orthogonal sets of categories. For example, in the domain of architectural images, some possible facets might be Materials (concrete, brick, wood, etc.), Styles (Baroque, Gothic, Ming, etc.), View Types, People (architects, artists, developers, etc.), Locations, Periods, and so on. • The metadata (or an individual facet) may be hierarchical (“located in Berkeley, California, United States”) or flat (“by Ansel Adams”). • The metadata (or an individual facet) may be singlevalued or multi-valued. That is, the data may be constrained so that at most one value can be assigned to an item (“measures 36 cm tall”) or it may allow multiple values to be assigned to an item (“uses oil paint, ink, and watercolor”). We note that there are a number of issues associated with creation of metadata itself which we are not addressing here. The most pressing problem is how to decide which descriptors are correct or at least most appropriate for a collection of information. Another problem relates to how to assign metadata descriptors to items that currently do not have metadata assigned. We will not be addressing these issues, in part because many other researchers already are, and because the fact remains that there are many existing, important collections whose contents have hierarchical metadata already assigned. RECIPE USABILITY STUDY We are particularly concerned with supporting non-professional searchers in rich information seeking tasks. Specifically we aim to answer the following questions: do users like and understand flexible organizations of metadata from different hierarchies? Are faceted hierarchies preferable to single hierarchies? Do people prefer to follow category-based hyperlinks or do they prefer to issue a keyword-based query and sort through results listings? 1http://dublincore.org, http://www.w3.org/2001/sw 2http://www.yahoo.com, http://dmoz.org Figure 1: The opening page for both interfaces shows a text search box and the first level of metadata terms. Hovering over a facet name yields a tooltip (here shown below Locations) explaining the meaning of the facet. Before developing our system, we tested the idea of using hierarchical faceted metadata on an existing interface that exemplified some of our design goals. This preliminary study was conducted using a commercial recipe web site called Epicurious containing five flat facets, 93 metadata terms, and approximately 13,000 recipes. We compared the three available search interfaces:(1) Simple keyword search, with unsorted results list (2) Enhanced search form that exposes metadata using checkboxes and drop-down lists, with unsorted results list. (3) Browse interface that allows user to navigate through the collection, implicitly building up a query consisting of an AND across facets; Selecting a category within a facet (e.g., Pasta within Main Ingredient) narrows results set, and users are shown query previews at every step. In the interests of space, we can only provide a brief summary of this small (9 participant) study: All the participants who liked the site (7 out of 9) said they were likely to use the browse interface again. Only 4 said this about enhanced search and 0 said this about simple search. Participants especially liked the browse interface for open-ended tasks such as “plan a dinner party.” We took this as encouraging support for the faceted metadata approach. However, the recipe browse facility is lacking in several ways. Free-text search is not integrated with metadata browse, the collection and metadata are of only moderate size, and the metadata is organized into flat (non-hierarchical) facets. Finally users are only allowed to refine queries, they cannot broaden 3http://eat.epicurious.com/recipes/browse home/

93 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Almost 300 key theoretical and empirical contributions in the current decade related to image retrieval and automatic image annotation are surveyed, and the spawning of related subfields are discussed, to discuss the adaptation of existing image retrieval techniques to build systems that can be useful in the real world.
Abstract: We have witnessed great interest and a wealth of promise in content-based image retrieval as an emerging technology. While the last decade laid foundation to such promise, it also paved the way for a large number of new techniques and systems, got many new people involved, and triggered stronger association of weakly related fields. In this article, we survey almost 300 key theoretical and empirical contributions in the current decade related to image retrieval and automatic image annotation, and in the process discuss the spawning of related subfields. We also discuss significant challenges involved in the adaptation of existing image retrieval techniques to build systems that can be useful in the real world. In retrospect of what has been achieved so far, we also conjecture what the future may hold for image retrieval research.

3,433 citations

Patent
08 Jun 2007
TL;DR: In this paper, liquid-crystal display (LCD) touch screens that integrate the touch sensing elements with the display circuitry are discussed. But the integration may take a variety of forms.
Abstract: Disclosed herein are liquid-crystal display (LCD) touch screens that integrate the touch sensing elements with the display circuitry. The integration may take a variety of forms. Touch sensing elements can be completely implemented within the LCD stackup but outside the not between the color filter plate and the array plate. Alternatively, some touch sensing elements can be between the color filter and array plates with other touch sensing elements not between the plates. In another alternative, all touch sensing elements can be between the color filter and array plates. The latter alternative can include both conventional and in-plane-switching (IPS) LCDs. In some forms, one or more display structures can also have a touch sensing function. Techniques for manufacturing and operating such displays, as well as various devices embodying such displays are also disclosed.

1,083 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
05 Apr 2003
TL;DR: An alternative based on enabling users to navigate along conceptual dimensions that describe the images is presented, which makes use of hierarchical faceted metadata and dynamically generated query previews.
Abstract: There are currently two dominant interface types for searching and browsing large image collections: keyword-based search, and searching by overall similarity to sample images. We present an alternative based on enabling users to navigate along conceptual dimensions that describe the images. The interface makes use of hierarchical faceted metadata and dynamically generated query previews. A usability study, in which 32 art history students explored a collection of 35,000 fine arts images, compares this approach to a standard image search interface. Despite the unfamiliarity and power of the interface (attributes that often lead to rejection of new search interfaces), the study results show that 90% of the participants preferred the metadata approach overall, 97% said that it helped them learn more about the collection, 75% found it more flexible, and 72% found it easier to use than a standard baseline system. These results indicate that a category-based approach is a successful way to provide access to image collections.

1,074 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
02 Apr 2005
TL;DR: Prefuse as discussed by the authors provides theoretically-motivated abstractions for the design of a wide range of visualization applications, enabling programmers to string together desired components quickly to create and customize working visualizations.
Abstract: Although information visualization (infovis) technologies have proven indispensable tools for making sense of complex data, wide-spread deployment has yet to take hold, as successful infovis applications are often difficult to author and require domain-specific customization. To address these issues, we have created prefuse, a software framework for creating dynamic visualizations of both structured and unstructured data. prefuse provides theoretically-motivated abstractions for the design of a wide range of visualization applications, enabling programmers to string together desired components quickly to create and customize working visualizations. To evaluate prefuse we have built both existing and novel visualizations testing the toolkit's flexibility and performance, and have run usability studies and usage surveys finding that programmers find the toolkit usable and effective.

941 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
28 Jul 2003
TL;DR: The design and evaluation of a system, called Stuff I've Seen (SIS), that facilitates information re-use and provides a unified index of information that a person has seen, whether it was seen as email, web page, document, appointment, etc.
Abstract: Most information retrieval technologies are designed to facilitate information discovery. However, much knowledge work involves finding and re-using previously seen information. We describe the design and evaluation of a system, called Stuff I've Seen (SIS), that facilitates information re-use. This is accomplished in two ways. First, the system provides a unified index of information that a person has seen, whether it was seen as email, web page, document, appointment, etc. Second, because the information has been seen before, rich contextual cues can be used in the search interface. The system has been used internally by more than 230 employees. We report on both qualitative and quantitative aspects of system use. Initial findings show that time and people are important retrieval cues. Users find information more easily using SIS, and use other search tools less frequently after installation.

887 citations