Using new clues to find data
Craig Fields, Nicholas Negroponte · Very Large Data Bases · 1977
Conventional date base management systems use symbolic clues to retrieve data--descriptions of the name, source or contents of data. A new data base management system also allows retrieval of information using spatial clues--where the data is located in the data base management system --and iconic clues--how the data looks. Information is displayed in a simulated space through which users can fly in search of data, much as people store and retrieve information from particular places in their offices e.g. , specific places on a bookshelf, specific piles of paper on a table, specific places within a filing cabinet. Exploiting the power of human spatial memory, the new system has the significant advantage of allowing the location of information when it cannot be precisely specified e.g., getting near information and browsing through information.