The verbal interfaces of current databases are not well suited for searches based on taste, intuition, or complexity (such as selecting a wine, a c&w, or a product with many attributes). MDS-Interactive is a visual interaction method, based on multidimensional scaling (MD'S), where people manipulate a set of sample objects to navigate through a large collection. In the development of MDSInteractive, attention was given to the balance of constraint and freedom, of inspiration and information, of verbal and visual interaction styles. We discuss the basic ideas of our technique, its relation to ecological display theory, and experiences with a prototype interface for a ccmsumer recommendation service.
QUERYING DATABASESIn the information society, making choices on the basis of complex information is a frequent task. TV guides list prograrmnes on dozens of stations, supermarkets and restaurants offer a wide variety of wines, e-commerce sites offer millions of books, music CD's, toys, furniture, etc. Especially on the internet, catalogues are made available for almost every c&gay of product.Currently, users can search such databases by using text-based search engines that allow them to specify combinati&s of desired attributes. These verbal interaction methods work well when the user's queries can be explicitly formulated in terms of attribute values. Users of scientific libraries can usually phrase their questions in terms of the year of publication, the name of the author, and explicit jargon words which should or should not appear in the title or abstract.However, text-based search engines are less helpful when the search criteria are vague, or complex, or the criteria involve taste and subjective appreciation.