Re:WikiGalaxy: Explore Wikipedia in 3D
by dracolytch on Thursday February 05, 2015 @09:51AM
(#9003458)
On one hand the interface is interesting and novel, but I'm not sure it really has a lot to offer initially. It's much easier to visualize the relationships between pieces of data with how the linking works, but the individual dots are spread enough that it doesn't provide quite the context that it has the potential to provide.
I'm impressed that it works in Chrome on Linux with no additional plugins or craziness. Their interface is clumsy though, and could learn a lot about user interaction in 3d space from video games.
Re:WikiGalaxy: Explore Wikipedia in 3D
by ansible on Thursday February 05, 2015 @09:57AM
(#9003491)
Their interface is clumsy though, and could learn a lot about user interaction in 3d space from video games.
Yes. I was trying different things with the mouse to help me navigate and orient myself, but aside from zoom, it is just for selection. I'd like to see controls like with the Homeworld series of RTS games, where you can easily rotate around a selected item.
In general, I'm just seeing a sea of topics, without much sense for where I am in the information space. More could be done by varying the size and shape of the nodes to indicate relevance, popularity, or category. I don't think color is enough.
Re:WikiGalaxy: Explore Wikipedia in 3D
by pmontra on Thursday February 05, 2015 @12:55PM
(#9004669)
It works on Firefox Linux too.
It's possible to rotate the ship only on a 2D plane, we must use + and - to move on the 3rd axis. This makes navigation slow and goes against our reflexes built with years and years of videogames. I hope it gets added soon.
The nicest thing of this interface is being able to see the links to related pages/stars. For reading a page Wikipedia is best, but this is a better tool for exploring the network.
Re:WikiGalaxy: Explore Wikipedia in 3D
by anigbrowl on Thursday February 05, 2015 @04:27PM
(#9006242)
Also found it a bit tricky to navigate, and found myself wanting some sort of dynamic reclustering. I searched on 'Film' and got to a nexus very obviously, but then things seemed spread out in very random directions. I'm guessing it is only using unidirectional links? Maybe some sort of Pagerank approach would help - links seemed to float off to essentailly random destiantions like individual film titles, the Wiki article on Celebrity and so on. I didn't get any sense o structure deriving from the internal links of the Wiki page either.
But having thrown out all those criticisms, it's still a great start. I want to browse things like this all the time. I want to see my browser bookmarks organized this way, and many other things. Please keep working on it!
Re:WikiGalaxy: Explore Wikipedia in 3D
by kissickas on Thursday February 05, 2015 @02:21PM
(#9005279)
It's a shame you can't click on the inline links between articles. It would be cool to see how the subjects are connected that way; I still have no idea how the articles are organized (although I didn't look very hard).
Re:WikiGalaxy: Explore Wikipedia in 3D
by nsxwolf on Thursday February 05, 2015 @09:54AM
(#9003477)
The absolute highest point I could reach in the visualization was "World Without End" by Ken Follet. I thought that was neat, but then I refreshed and it appeared in a new random location.
Re:WikiGalaxy: Explore Wikipedia in 3D
by razzaj on Thursday February 05, 2015 @09:58AM
(#9003496)
I think that before we can judge on the utility on such a presentation, we need the right visualization tool. My hunch is that viewing this with an Oculus would be an entirely different experience.
Re:WikiGalaxy: Explore Wikipedia in 3D
by isaacremuant on Thursday February 05, 2015 @10:21AM
(#9003616)
That's a good point. One 2d screen doesn't seem to benefit from the 3 dimensions.
Having it all around, visible and linked might change everything. Very much like whiteboards or other 3 dimensional physical representations (think like in Cop TV shows) help us to see the big picture.
I'm impressed that it works in Chrome on Linux with no additional plugins or craziness. Their interface is clumsy though, and could learn a lot about user interaction in 3d space from video games.
Yes. I was trying different things with the mouse to help me navigate and orient myself, but aside from zoom, it is just for selection. I'd like to see controls like with the Homeworld series of RTS games, where you can easily rotate around a selected item.
In general, I'm just seeing a sea of topics, without much sense for where I am in the information space. More could be done by varying the size and shape of the nodes to indicate relevance, popularity, or category. I don't think color is enough.
Interesting project!
It's possible to rotate the ship only on a 2D plane, we must use + and - to move on the 3rd axis. This makes navigation slow and goes against our reflexes built with years and years of videogames. I hope it gets added soon.
The nicest thing of this interface is being able to see the links to related pages/stars. For reading a page Wikipedia is best, but this is a better tool for exploring the network.
A suggestion: ESC to close a page.
But having thrown out all those criticisms, it's still a great start. I want to browse things like this all the time. I want to see my browser bookmarks organized this way, and many other things. Please keep working on it!
Having it all around, visible and linked might change everything. Very much like whiteboards or other 3 dimensional physical representations (think like in Cop TV shows) help us to see the big picture.
Amusingly, you can see other people navigating beside you, which is pretty novel, fwiw.