Broadening Access to Large Online Databases by Generalizing Query
Previews
Broadening Access to Large Online Databases by Generalizing Query
Previews
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Date
2000-05-13
Authors
Tanin, E.
Plaisant, C.
Shneiderman, B.
Advisor
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DRUM DOI
Abstract
Companies, government agencies, and other types of organizations are
making their large databases available to the world over the Internet.
Current database front-ends do not give users information about the
distribution of data. This leads many users to waste time and network
resources posing queries that have either zero-hit or mega-hit result
sets. Query previews form a novel visual approach for browsing large
databases. Query previews supply data distribution information about the
database that is being searched and give continuous feedback about the
size of the result set for the query as it is being formed. On the other
hand, query previews use only a few pre-selected attributes of the
database. The distribution information is displayed only on these
attributes. Unfortunately, many databases are formed of numerous relations
and attributes. This paper introduces a generalization of query previews.
We allow users to browse all of the relations and attributes of a database
using a hierarchical browser. Any of the attributes can be used to display
the distribution information, making query previews applicable to many
public online databases.
(Also cross-referenced as UMIACS-TR-2000-32)
(Also cross-referenced as HCIL-TR-2000-14)