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Series / Report no.
Open Access
Type
Report
Language
nl
Date
1994-12-31
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Title
VTV interactief-evaluatie van de
orientatiefase
Translated Title
VTV interactive evaluation of the orientation
phase
Published in
Abstract
Met dit evaluatie-rapport wordt de orientatie-fase van
het project VTV Interactief afgesloten. De resultaten van de fase zijn een
algemene analyse van een interactief document, een geimplementeerde
demonstratie-versie en een beschrijving van de daarin uitgebeelde
mechanismen. De belangrijkste conclusie van dit onderzoek is dat een
interactief werkstation voor het volledig redigeren van een VTV-document nog
niet mogelijk is. Wel zijn voor de diverse doelgroepen hulpmiddelen
aanwezig of te maken. Lezers van VTV documenten met verschillende
interesse-profielen worden door een interactieve versie van (een deel van)
de Volksgezondheids Toekomst Verkenningen in staat gesteld de door hun
gewenste informatie te benaderen met behulp van interactieve mechanismen ten
behoeve van de ontsluiting van, de navigatie door en de presentatie van
informatie. De redactie van een VTV document kan op dit moment geen hulp
van VTV Interactief verwachten ; voor deze groep bestaan echter
software-pakketten die problemen specifiek op dit gebied oplossen (met
meerdere auteurs aan een document werken, versiebeheer e.d.).De bestaande
hulpmiddelen voor het fabriceren van een interactief document zijn
onvoldoende doordat zij geen rekening houden met veranderingen in het in
bewerking zijnde document. Het statische karakter van de in het document
aan te brengen structuur vraagt veel onderhoud na elke wijziging. Wel zijn
talen in ontwikkeling. Een eventueel vervolg (op langere termijn) van
VTV-interactief zal zich moeten aansluiten bij de internationaal erkende
standaards Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) en
Hypermedia/Time-based Document Structuring Language (HyTime). Ten aanzien
van de presentatie van verschillende typen informatie moeten algemeen
geldende afspraken gemaakt worden. De ontwikkelde ontsluitings- en
navigatiemechanismen zijn voor VTV-onderzoekers van belang. Het voorstel is
deze in de modelleeromgeving M te integreren, vooral gericht op grafische
presentatie en onderzoek van gegevens.
Forecasts for the environment or public health depend on a collaborative effort of many contributors and result in a body of knowledge that is only partly accessible in the rather encyclopedic reports published by RIVM. By presenting results as interactive documents, access can be improved by easy search and browse routines. This allows the user access to both more information and different information, since the models used to derive particular forecasts could also be made available for the evaluation of different scenarios. This report discusses the general characteristics of interactive documents and describes a prototype for such a document implemented using MacroMind Director. The prototype shows that the technology for designing and distributing such documents is available. Its main limitations are the delivery platforms required, the lack of standards and the cost of developing new documents. Since powerful multimedia platforms are rapidly becoming generally available and standards are also emerging (SGML, HTML), the first two limitations can all but be ignored on any reasonable time scale for the implementation of the infrastructure required for the production of interactive documents. However, the efficiency of this production process and therefore its cost will depend mainly on RIVM itself, i.e. on the way we design this infrastructure. The starting point for this design should be the working environment (the workstation) for the editors, analists and researchers involved in putting the forecasts together. Experience with the prototype shows that when interactive versions are created by people outside the project concerned, one can only avoid wasting effort by waiting until the written documents (and by implication the models, datasets and various scenario studies) have been finalized. At the same time, one desperately needs the project team to specify appropriate decompositions of the documents and indicate how they would like the information to be used and presented. To assure this participation, the design of an interactive version should become an integral part of the work on the document itself and actually support the work on this document, by allowing team members easier access to each other contributions. The design of an appropriate environment for the construction of interactive versions can therefore only be resolved within the broader context of a general infrastructure supporting collaborative work in a network integrating text editing, document handling, visualization, database access and modelling. In the mean time, the specific suggestions for text browsing contained in this document are used as a basis for the documentation facilities that are being added to the M modelling and visualization environment. This environment is used for modelling by the Office for Public Health Forecasting (VTV) and other at RIVM.
Forecasts for the environment or public health depend on a collaborative effort of many contributors and result in a body of knowledge that is only partly accessible in the rather encyclopedic reports published by RIVM. By presenting results as interactive documents, access can be improved by easy search and browse routines. This allows the user access to both more information and different information, since the models used to derive particular forecasts could also be made available for the evaluation of different scenarios. This report discusses the general characteristics of interactive documents and describes a prototype for such a document implemented using MacroMind Director. The prototype shows that the technology for designing and distributing such documents is available. Its main limitations are the delivery platforms required, the lack of standards and the cost of developing new documents. Since powerful multimedia platforms are rapidly becoming generally available and standards are also emerging (SGML, HTML), the first two limitations can all but be ignored on any reasonable time scale for the implementation of the infrastructure required for the production of interactive documents. However, the efficiency of this production process and therefore its cost will depend mainly on RIVM itself, i.e. on the way we design this infrastructure. The starting point for this design should be the working environment (the workstation) for the editors, analists and researchers involved in putting the forecasts together. Experience with the prototype shows that when interactive versions are created by people outside the project concerned, one can only avoid wasting effort by waiting until the written documents (and by implication the models, datasets and various scenario studies) have been finalized. At the same time, one desperately needs the project team to specify appropriate decompositions of the documents and indicate how they would like the information to be used and presented. To assure this participation, the design of an interactive version should become an integral part of the work on the document itself and actually support the work on this document, by allowing team members easier access to each other contributions. The design of an appropriate environment for the construction of interactive versions can therefore only be resolved within the broader context of a general infrastructure supporting collaborative work in a network integrating text editing, document handling, visualization, database access and modelling. In the mean time, the specific suggestions for text browsing contained in this document are used as a basis for the documentation facilities that are being added to the M modelling and visualization environment. This environment is used for modelling by the Office for Public Health Forecasting (VTV) and other at RIVM.
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RIVM