MultiStates: Monitoring Databases With Acoustic and Intuitive Perspective Wall Interaction
Thomas Gladisch, Dirk Willuhn, Gerhard Weber · 2009
In this paper, we describe the prototypical implementation and evaluation of a database performance monitoring tool for large database management systems (DBMS). These DBMS provide the technological background for many complex e-Government applications and the availability of the managed data is crucial. The implementation focuses on the creation of application-specific gestures on a touch input device, such as the Apple iPhone 3G with software version 2.2.1. A perspective wall is used to display the data in conjunction with an acoustic indicator for navigating through the information space non-visually. We report on an exploratory investigation of the prototypical monitoring tool based on an evaluation with two groups of users: inexperienced users with no database-related professional background and users, whose daily work is closely related to database monitoring. We conclude, knowledge in the area of the respective application is helpful to make better use of the prototypical tool. Furthermore, the flexibility of the perspective wall as the visualization of choice is shown by the good overall user acceptance. Finally, the acoustic indicator gives an idea of how to support even visually impaired users in finding occurrences of problems in large information spaces, such as database performance criteria.