Visual Interface Design for Digital Cultural Heritage

Browsing for information is a significant part of most research activity, but many online collections hamper browsing with interfaces that are variants on a search box. Research shows that rich-prospect interfaces can offer an intuitive and highly flexible alternative environment for information browsing, assisting hypothesis formation and pattern-finding. This unique book offers a clear discussion of this form of interface design, including a theoretical basis for why it is important, and examples of how it can be done. It will be of interest to those working in the fields of library and information science, human-computer interaction, visual communication design, and the digital humanities as well as those interested in new theories and practices for designing web interfaces for library collections, digitized cultural heritage materials, and other types of digital collections.

Dr. Stan Ruecker is Petullo Professor of Graphic Design at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. His current research interests are in the areas of experience design, humanities visualization, the future of reading, and information design. He holds a PhD, MDes, MA, BA Hons, and BSc. He has supervised graduate students and led seminars on experimental interface design, organizational innovation, strategic planning, research methods, and interdisciplinary research project management. His work focuses on developing prototypes to support the hermeneutic or interpretive process. Milena Radzikowska is Full Professor in Information Design at the School of Communication Studies at Mount Royal University. She is a practicing design researcher, teacher, passionate about the potential of design to serve those who are marginalized, vulnerable, or under-represented. She's designed interfaces to support humanities scholars in their work; to connect breast cancer survivors; to help protect wildlife in provincial parks; and to challenge marginalizing practices in the oil sands. Since 2005, Dr. Radzikowska has collaborated on over 25 interdisciplinary design research projects, four of those with budgets in the millions, extending over longer periods (anywhere from two to seven years). Dr. Stéfan Sinclair is an Associate Professor of Digital Humanities at McGill University. His primary area of research is in the design, development, usage and theorization of tools for the digital humanities, especially for text analysis and visualization. He has led or contributed significantly to projects such as Voyant Tools, the Text Analysis Portal for Research TAPoR, the MONK Project, the Simulated Environment for Theatre, the Mandala Browser, and BonPatron In additional to his work developing sophisticated scholarly tools, he has numerous publications related to research and teaching in the Digital Humanities.