Keywords
Ramonamap is an iterative map for database and communication services within our workgroup. Resources are represented as icons on the map, which preserves their actual (or implied) physical location and capitalizes on a user's understanding of maps. The map is interactive, giving the user control over the level of detail visible, allowing more information and services to appear than could be placed on a static map. The interactivity also allows users to change the map and add icon annotations. Since the map is continuously derived from an on-line database, changes and annotations are immediately shared by all users. As the database contains a wealth of information about the group, it also serves as a source for static maps for other purposes.
Normally, the primary purpose of an information display is to convey information. If information displays can be aesthetically interesting, that might be an added bonus. This paper considers an experiment in reversing this imperative. It describes the Kandinsky system which is designed to create displays which are first aesthetically interesting, and then as an added bonus, able to convey information. The Kandinsky system works on the basis of aesthetic properties specified by an artist (in a visual form). It then explores a space of collages composed from information bearing images, using an optimization technique to find compositions which best maintain the properties of the artist's aesthetic expression.
