Description of diploma project
Wednesday 13.00, room C0.01

Design of interactive and adaptive interfaces to exploit large media-based knowledge spaces in the domain of museums for the fine arts

by Karolina Czajka

Definition of Problem

The aim of museums is to exhibit, preserve and support the study of historical, artistic or scientific artefacts. As far as the exhibition is concerned, usually the space is limited and thus mere fractions of the collection can be presented at a time. Hence, most museums use the Web for presenting large parts of their collections to the general public. On the whole the interfaces are visually pleasing but the common way of providing information is a static combination of text and different sorts of visual data, where the text tries to convey the main information.

Approach

For a better understanding of art another way must be chosen. By combining various materials to establish conceptual models a system must possess knowledge of what is contained in the different media used. Furthermore, strategies are needed for combining the materials on the basis of context so that the system can find satisfactory solutions for upcoming presentational needs. The aim of my thesis should contribute to these challenges by providing insights in the presentational issues, such as

-	the overall presentation dynamics (e.g. linear or interactive) and the resulting subdivision of information blocks
-	organising material for each information block, e.g. number of elements on a page and their spatial outline based on the actual size of each information unit
-	optimisation of ordered material based on additional style criteria, such as colour or brightness distribution, in particular to emphasize a particular style.

Phases of the Project

-	definition of the domain sphere in media-based knowledge spaces for museums
-	analysis of various art styles on their feasability for presentational tasks in the defined area
-	definition of graphical constraints (temporal, spatial) based on the above analysis to establish a set of 'art style' representation forms
-	the development of presentation prototypes in SMIL
-	critical evaluation of the prototypes, SMIL as a presentation tool for the web, in particular in comparison with other tools, such as Flash or Director.