Trains of Thought needs its first website!

A search engine with a unique output. In more detail: Search engines today are great at finding nuggets of knowledge. However, the task of fitting those nuggets into one coherent picture remains difficult. We want to allow a user to explore a new, complex topic and discover hidden connections effectively. We focus on the news domain; for example, consider a person who wishes to understand the debt crisis in Europe and its implications. Think of 'Trains of Thought' as a search engine with a unique output: The user enters 'debt crisis in Greece' into the search box. Instead of a list of links, the output resembles a metro map. Each line follows a coherent narrative thread; different lines focus on different aspects of the story. For example, see the (simplified) metro map attached as mapsample.jpg . The middle (blue) line details the chain of events leading from Greece’s debts to its ‘junk’ status. The top (red) line is about strikes and riots in Greece. Both lines intersect at an article about the austerity plan, since the austerity plan plays an important role in both storylines: it was a key precondition for Greece to get bailout money, but it also triggered many of the strikes. When a user clicks on a title, he should be able to read the entire news story (see nytimes1.jpg ). Finally, in order to be useful the map must represent the user's interests. We rely on user feedback in order to learn their preferences and adjust the maps accordingly. Therefore, the last part of the webpage is an interaction component. The component displays a list of words in decreasing importance (see wordlist.jpg ; it will probably contain ~50 words). The user can increase and decrease the importance of the each word. For example, the user can indicate that they care a lot about Germany's role in the crisis by increasing the importance of 'Germany' and requesting a new map.

Not yet.

Some designs we like for their clarity and simplicity. http://netliferesearch.com/ http://www.moso.com/unfinishedbusiness/ http://www.shoutdigital.com/ http://www.designzoom.in/ http://www.infinvision.com/ http://fortherecord.simonfosterdesign.com/ http://intridea.com/ http://preparetoactivate.com/ http://www.aribeo.co/

The webpage should have four main parts: (1) The search box, (2) the output map, (3) single-article view and (4) the interaction component. There should also be a logo at the top, and about/contact links at the bottom. We do not have a logo -- you are welcome to include one in the design, or just write the name in some nice font. The most important challenge is, in our opinion, fitting the four parts in a single web page without it getting too cluttered (say, when browsed from a laptop). For this reason, the design has to be truly minimalistic and clean. We do not want any real photographs on it -- only geometric forms or clipart. Also, we want to stress the importance of usability. Since the user interface is non-standard, the user needs to easily understand how to use the site. Here are some of the considerations we have in mind. * Output map: - What does the map look like (fonts, background, frame, etc)? - There are usually about 20 'stops' in the map. How do we fit twenty titles+dates in the map? Horizontal scrolling? Zooming and panning? - The x-axis of the map corresponds to time -- should the date appear under/over the map instead of in the stop name? * Single-article view: - Where does the article show up? Is it a side bar? Perhaps hovering above the map? We prefer that it does not appear in a new window. * Interaction component: What does the interaction component look like? Where on the page is it located? What is the interaction mechanism? Here are some options, but feel free to add your own. - Word placement: one word per line. - Importance: represented by size? color? both? - Adjusting importance: dragging a word up and down the list? having small '+-' buttons near each word? something completely different?

Thanks a lot! Looking forward to working with you.

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