Read: http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/treemap-history/

A looong time ago I used to use a utility called SequoiaView (Linux equivelant is KDirStat). Treemaps were the answer to be able to view a huge amount of data when constrained by space.

I wonder why we don't see more implementation of this in other aspects of the Internet Tablet?

See PhotoMesa as an example of browsing through photos via metadata; and my favourite, Newsmap as a means of browsing the latest news.


The ideas have been extended to support viewing other types of data such as the stockmarket.


Think we should explore this form of HCI for internet tablets? Say as a means of browsing MP3 albums, images, logfiles, etc?

oooooh, a ZUI fan? Tons of cool visualization ideas came out of the HCIL. One of the most everyday ideas was datelens. See http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/datelens/ I have run the desktop version and the PPC2003 version. It would be cool to see google calendar implement this.

Personally, I want to try using a datelens-type visualization to map workflow queues on timelines and calendars. See also the timeline in the zotero firefox add-on. http://www.zotero.org/documentation/timeline_screencast

I'm all for ZUIs

http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/fisheyemenu/ was one I kept my eye on years ago. Nothing came of it [the most similar thing I can think of is the MacOS Dockbar] Seriously, how much nicer would it be for an alphabetical list of MP3s, Albums, etc - slide your finger across the alphabet to quickly browse through the entire listing, move your finger further away from the slider to slow down the selection through individual names, perhaps even into track-listings, and even into individual track-timelines.

Datelens looks pretty nifty, someone must have AJAXed it by now!