INFOTUBE:
Representation
and Visualization
INFOTUBE is a web-based project proposing
to visualize the existing Motomachi Shopping Street in Yokohama, Japan,
as a cyberspace filled with consumer information.
Instead of direct "representation" of
the real Shopping Street into the 3D space, we choose the way of "visualization" of a space entirely generated from the information
itself.
INFOTUBE will supply information to visitors
in a way that they cannot perceive from the real Shopping Street. It is
expected to develop reciprocal actions between the Shopping Street and
web pages.
INFOTUBE
Visitors to INFOTUBE can cruse around the
information-space reconstructed into a
cylindrical tube. This Tube is covered with lots of rectangular "cells,"
a minimum unit of consumer information, on which various images and
texts are displayed.
Information is distributed not hierarchically
as in typical web pages, but simultaneously and randomly on the Tube. Cells can be freely linked to each
other.
Information on
Cells
The INFOTUBE cells
contain various information uploaded by shop people and visitors.
Basically, cells
represent the following types of information.
- Shop Information
: images, publicity, addresses, phone numbers, catalogs, and links to product
information and official sites.
- Product Information
: images, publicity, links to shop information and official sites.
- font face="Arial,Helvetica">Visitors Information
: BBS (Messages on Live Cells uploaded by visitors and online visitors)
- General Information
: general (sales and fairs), local (historical sites, neighboring community), and
administrative information. Links to other tubes.
Interface
At the user's interface of
INFOTUBE, a
visitor will proceed along the Tube and view information whatever he/she
is interested. The visitor can view detailed information in the right
frame of the window by positioning the mouse pointer on any cell on the
Tube. At the same time, the visitor will see the corresponding place
is illuminated on the map of the Shopping Street.
The visitor can also bookmark his/her
favorite cells by clicking on them, or unregistering them.
Access Record
Branch-like objects extended from the
Tube represent access records (logs) to the cells.
A branch is extended every time a user
clicks on the cell. Users can recognize which cells are popular on the
Tube. (This function is conceptual and has not yet been implemented.)
Live Cells
It is proposed to construct several "Live
Cells" in Motomachi Shopping Street. INFOTUBE can be accessed from
these PC stations prepared along the real Shopping Street. Visitors
to the Shopping Street can upload their own messages and images, and can
communicate with other visitors over the web.
Phantasmagoria
A distinctive characteristic of INFOTUBE
is that visitors can look over information at one time without browsing
into deeper layers of the site.
By spatializing and visualizing information,
visitors can recognize information more intuitively just as when they are
viewing landscapes.
Panoramic display of information can be
realized in a phantasmagoria in cyberspace.
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