Context
The Criteria for Views for the Liquid | Author project are based on the use case a student building a paper for advisors, external reviewers and the academic community at large.
A View simply refers to a visual way of displaying information. The primary information format here is text, with moving and still, 2D and 3D, interactive and passive imagery, music and at some point, haptics integrated. AR and VR are outside of initial focus but could well provide useful Views in the future.
A workspace where the primary view can not be rolled into a Word Processing scrollable view (‘WP’) is outside of the views for this project and are covered by other projects such as Debate Graph, The Brain as well as many Mind and Concept Mapping solutions.
The core view is the standard scrolling scroll used in word processing applications. The reason is not only that it is currently the view accepted by academia for a paper and thus connects into current workflows. It is also that this view provides an efficient use of space and is supportive of long form writing and reading.
Criteria
Any views must not interfere with other views.
All views must be instantly available, technically and interaction wise.
The visual clarity of the view should not be sacrificed for clumsy functionality.
Interactions should be manual as well as criteria based, at will.
Please contribute: XX…
Initial Views
Word Processing/‘WP’
Traditional Word Processing ‘WP’ scrollable based views:
• Show only Headings (outline, accessed through pinch)
• Show only sentences with (temporary re-formatting, accessed through selecting word and cmd-f)
• Colour keywords based on colour glossary
• Show only first sentence per paragraph
• Flow; break the text on , and double break on . (etc.) for a more listy view
Timeline
Timeline, based on time of creation of the document sections or reference in the body text to events which happened in time. This relates to the Time Browser Project: http://timebrowser.info
Analysis Generated
Views generated based on semantic analysis of the document, such as:
• Show Synopsis
Citation Views
Different means through which to show sources cited in the document in ways that are instantly accessible and verifiable.
Liquid | View
A view where headings from a word processing document can be re-arranged free-form across the screen, where placement is fluid and lines can be adde (manually or based on some criteria) to further show relationships. This is similar to a concept map but does not necessarily need line descriptions or arrows and it is similar to a mind map but does not need to have a central node. The document you are reading now is partly created from the thinking used to create: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vxomwv6vv87uo16/Text%20Space%20Jan%2021.png?dl=0
Please note, these are initial thoughts, these are very much the interactions and implementations where the research needs to be focused:
Implementations
• As implemented in a 2D space
• As implemented in a 3D space
Manual Interactions
• Basic interaction is to move any heading around in a view which is visually the same as the WP view with no clutter on the workspace.
• Drag from one heading to another and drop to create a connecting line.
• Option-Drag from one heading to another and drop to create a connecting line with an arrow.
• Drag a single heading/node to another location or include all subsections when dragging.
• Double click on a connecting line to give it a name/tag.
• Show all levels or hide below a certain level.
• Hover over heading for access to further information and connections, such as following a link to another Liquid | View document.
Command Interactions
• Show connections based on keywords from body text.
• Show connections based on internal or external links.
