Interactive data annotation in virtual environments

Note-taking is an integral part of scientific data analysis. In particular, it is vital for explorative analysis, as the expression and transformation of ideas is a necessary precondition for gaining insight. However, in the case of interactive data exploration in virtual environments it is not possible to keep a pen and pencil at hand. Additionally, data analysis in virtual environments allows the multi-modal exploration of complex and time varying data. We propose the toolkit independent content generation system IDEA that features a defined process model, a generic annotation model with a variety of content types as well as specially developed interaction metaphors for their input and output handling. This allows the user to note ideas, e.g., in form of text, images or voice without interfering with the analysis process. In this paper we present the basic concepts for this system. We describe the context-content model which allows to tie annotation content to logical objects that are part of the scene and stores specific information for the special interaction in virtual environments. The IDEA system is already applied in a prototypical implementation for the exploration of air flows in the human nasal cavity where it is used for data analysis as well as interdisciplinary communication.