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Design of a 3D user interface to a database

  • Papers: Interaction, User Interfaces and Presentation
  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Database Issues for Data Visualization (DBVIS 1993)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 871))

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Abstract

One of the strangest paradoxes of the silicon era is the dichotomy between ’enjoyable’ recreational computer activities and ’mundane’ work-based computer operations. How can an activity as pointless as a computer game have so much appeal? The answer to this lies in the user interface, and not the functionality, of the program. Computer games rely heavily on an interface which is natural and enjoyable to use. We believe that an interface should appeal to the user, and to do so must capture the user's interest and imagination. To this end, we have been using high performance graphics to generate meaningful three dimensional representations for our graphical user interface. We propose new metaphors for both query construction and result representation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Molecular and Cell Biology, Marishal College, Aberdeen University, UK

    John Boyle & John E. Fothergill

  2. Dept. of Computing Science, King's College, Aberdeen University, UK

    John Boyle & Peter M. D. Gray

Authors
  1. John Boyle
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  2. John E. Fothergill
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  3. Peter M. D. Gray
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Editor information

John P. Lee Georges G. Grinstein

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© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Boyle, J., Fothergill, J.E., Gray, P.M.D. (1994). Design of a 3D user interface to a database. In: Lee, J.P., Grinstein, G.G. (eds) Database Issues for Data Visualization. DBVIS 1993. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 871. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0021153

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0021153

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-58519-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-49016-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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