Large Human-Machine Information Spaces

Abstract

An I-SPACE is a large human-machine information space, designed especially for environments where large amounts of distributed information, and tools for using that information, must be interfaced to a wide variety of users in real time. The important characteristics of an I-SPACE are that it presents a powerful, but uniform and simple interface to all users, that it permits users to synthesize information from diverse parts of the I-SPACE for simultaneous viewing and manipulation via their screens, and that it accommoates a cluttered desktop environment, where activities can be set aside (but kept up to date by real-time mechanisms), then later returned to. We describe the Goddard I-SPACE, a prototype system for Goddard Space Flight Center, an archetype of organizations in need of an I-SPACE. This 1- SPACE is presently running on a VAX, and will soon incorporate a large multiprocessor to handle real-time scheduling and event-driven pattern matchers.