A Quick Demo of the `Java Blitz'
(formerly `Krakatoa Chronicle')
Krishna Bharat kb@cc.gatech.edu,
Tomonari Kanba kanba@mmp.cl.nec.co.jp
(This demo's for browsers that can handle Java Alpha3, e.g. HotJava)
The following URL should start up the demo
(Be warned that some versions of HotJava strip
the 8080 out of the hostname. If you get an error
please correct this in the URL and reload)
BEFORE YOU BEGIN HOWEVER READ THE NEXT SECTION
Directions (and caveats!)
If you have time read the paper! Otherwise at least read this section
before you begin the demo to avoid problems.
Java Blitz is an online, interactive, personalized newspaper. This
demo shows you one edition. You are not in a position to create new editions,
make changes to your profile, create new accounts etc.
Starting Up: When you fire up the demo you will be told that HotJava is 'formatting'. It will
take about 45secs-1 minute before the newspaper comes up. Be patient. (**Warning #1**: Sometimes
resizing during this first phase can hang the system, so just let it be for 1 minute! You can iconize
it if you like)
When you see the newspaper on the screen, you are in a position to interact with the
first page. There are some widgets on the page that you can barely see but will 'come
alive' when the mouse gets close to them. You'll discover them in due course. Notice that
the rest of the articles (on other pages) are still being loaded. This is done by
a background thread so you don't have to block. This brings us to Warning #2.
(**Warning #2**: There is a scrollbar to the extreme right which is called the
page scrollbar. This allows you to move to pages in other parts of the newspaper. If you
go to a page whose articles are yet to be loaded, the system will freeze for about a minute
while the articles-thread gets preempted and is made to get the articles on this page. If you
impatiently scroll around to pages that haven't been loaded this may take a long while).
Hence move this scrollbar forward in small increments.
The Page:
It consists of a bunch of articles each of which can be scrolled, and you can
give feedback by manipulating a "Score Bar" attached to the article. The Score Bar is
the piece of text below the title which gives you the rating of the article such as
"Interesting" or "No Comment". If you bring the mouse near this text it will turn
into a slider. Moving the slider
on the scorebar gives feedback about the article. There`s a vertical line in
the score bar which represents the community's score for the article. You can't change
this. The buttons labelled `P` and `S` are inactive in this version.
The Toolbar: This is the bar on the top which has the date etc. The Button
labelled `B` gets you into Bold Mode and makes the article under the cursor look
bold. The ReLayout button is the most interesting button on the page. It causes the
entire newspaper to change in appearance. Click on that after you have given feedback and/or
changed global layout parameters.
Global Layout Parameters: These are parameters that change the global layout of the
newspaper. These are:
Density Bar: which controls
the density of articles in the page.
- Sensitivity Bar: which controls
the variation in the amount of space occupied by the various articles on the page. High sensitivity
means important articles and large articles will get more space than others. Low sensitivity means
they'll all be approximately the same size.
- Tendency Bar: This controls how
the community score and user score are mixed in deciding the rank of the article within the newspaper.
In the initial "Average" setting popular articles and personally interesting articles will be mixed
in equal proportions. In a more personal setting the articles will be predominantly personal and in
a more general setting predominantly general. You will see this reflected in the scorebars of
the articles.
Personalization: Initially each article has a score which is the system's best
estimate of your interest in the article and the community's interest in the article.
If you decide that this prediction is incorrect you can change the setting. This immediately
gets logged at our server site. Subsequently your feedback is processed and your user profile
is updated to reflect your interests. If you requested the next days newspaper (in the actual
system) that would reflect your updated profile in the ordering and layout of articles.
Cheers, Good Luck and Enjoy the Demo!!!
Contact Information:
(This work was done when Tomonari Kanba of NEC Corpn., Japan was a visiting
researcher at the GVU Center, Georgia Tech.)
Tomonari Kanba,
Krishna Bharat,
GVU Center,
College of Computing, Georgia Tech,
Atlantic Drive, Atlanta GA 30332.
Phone : +1 404 894-2590
Fax : +1 404 853-9378
E-mail : kanba@mmp.cl.nec.co.jp, kb@cc.gatech.edu