Homogeneous access to temporal data and interaction histories in visual interface for databases

Abstract

Recent database applications deal with temporal data. Such applications are typically oriented towards a large set of users, and therefore need to be equipped with suitable interfaces facilitating the interaction with the system. However, very few empirical studies aimed at testing and validating the effectiveness of various query styles and interfaces have been conducted in the database field. It is of note that temporal information is also relevant in modeling user interaction. We propose a visual query system incorporating aspects related to both application data and data concerning user interaction. The system exploits a graph based formalism and suitable graphical primitives. The main feature of the system is that data about the history of interaction is stored, accessed and dynamically maintained with the same mechanisms as the application data. This approach is an effort towards clearly establishing a link between user interaction and modeling, and data modeling and querying, and also allows a structured analysis of usability results.