Relativity Controller^TM

A relativity controller is a scroll bar/window combination that provides a way to see data in relation to both the context of its wholeness and the salience of its contents. To accomplish this, the linear density or other appearance of the scroll bar (acting as a ruler or scale) varies with the density of the document salience (as indicated by different kinds of annotations or marks). It also provides a way to zoom between perspectives. The technology is applicable to many different data types: including text, graphics, video, sound and specialized data formats such as calendars.

Perspectives on video In this figure, the user has marked three salient segments of video. Notice how these marks in the scrollbar get wider, as the spacing between them condenses and darkens, when the mouse is moved up. The cursor, to the left, changes to reflect the size of the marks in relation to the length of the whole video.

Perspectives on text In this figure, the user expands a pre-scaled text abstract by dragging the mouse to the right. The windows to the right show the resulting succession of increasingly detailed segments of text coming into view. Notice that the size of the marks in the scrollbar show relative proportions of marked and unmarked text being displayed.

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