CS377 - Folio/Socrates Analysis

Folio and Socrates uses Normanic principles in some places but not in others. The text based nature of FOLIO/Socrates constrains it in its application of these Normanic virtues. Having a mere 24 lines to play with makes it hard to offer an easy to use interface with clear descriptions while still offering flexible search methods for the database.

They gradually reveal the interface - prompting the user to type in the next bit of the command (so called GUIDE mode) while presenting some of the more common options at each stage. The complete list of options is hidden behind a Help screen.

For example:

The main screen tells you how to start searching immediately. It makes the commands visible to the user. The user still has to type the command correctly. The introductory screen also tells the user how to get more help in case of problems.
```
  To select a file for searching:  type SELECT

  To search Socrates:              type FIND


          Tip -- You can always type HELP if you get stuck.
```
The searching function lists the more common types of searches you can perform. Again the complex types are hidden behind the HELP and OPTIONS menus.
```
  A  Search by Author              for example: Dickens
  T  Search by Title               for example: tale cities
  TP Search by Title Phrase        for example: tale of two 

  Type HELP ALL INDEXES for a list of all the search types available.
```
The searching mechanism is rather annoying that it requires an input before proceeding. An empty input string causes the system to prompt you again, telling you if you want to abort the search you must type CANCEL.
At least Folio/Socrates is good about making information visible to you - ie: everything is documented in the help. However, rarely is the interface transparent - as with any command driven interface there is not much the designer can do to suggest 'places' and 'metaphors' without cluttering the display. For anything but the most basic tasks the user must hunt through help text.

User Tests

Task:: To find the research interests of Terry Winograd.
Why?: We are considering signing up the Prof. as a thesis advisor. We want to know more before committing ourselves.
Reasoning:: Searching for a book is something every new student learns within days of arriving at Stanford. The Frosh had no problem with the warm up exercise "find out if Star Wars is available". Searching other parts of Socrates (InSpec and so on) is much the same as searching the library collection, and thus not much of a challenge.
Searching other parts of Folio (of which Socrates is part) is more interesting, since information is a bit more hierarchical and a bit harder to search all at once. The non-Socrates part of Folio is not immediately obvious and hence less used.

Predictions

The warmup task of finding Star Wars the movie is easy for anyone who can follow the prompts or has been on a LaIR tour (where basic Socrates is explained).

The hard part of the warmup is checking the circulation, i.e. has the movie been checked out? This requires prior knowledge or reading of the help information.

The main task requires:

Knowing that the SELECT command is used for changing files.
Selecting the right file (Faculty Interests).
This requires two operations when following prompts: selecting General Information, and then selecting Faculty from the General Information list.
Searching the Faculty file by name.
Using the DISPLAY FULL command to find out the professor's research interests.

I expect difficulties to arise in using the select command, and then in choosing the appropriate file to select from the list of topics (ten toplevel topics). Once the appropriate topic has been found, the rest of the exercise is straightforward.

Experimental Data

Both users completed the warmup exercise without problems, pausing only to scan the help information for the appropriate command to display circulation. User A was familiar enough to use the SELECT command to specialize the search to just the FILM/VIDEO database. Both admitted to having been on library tours.

User 1

Searching for the professors name did not help. A detour through HELP did not enlighten. The user restarts the session from the top. Tries to use the FIND command (which automatically attaches you to Socrates). Tries to stop search when asked for search type - the program demands a proper search keyword. The search is cancelled and the user starts over again. Again the FIND command unobtrusively connects her to Socrates.

The user becomes increaingly frustrated and flails around, unaware that the answer lies in a separate file. The search finally ends unanswered.

User 2

Starts by searching the Socrates database, and then backs out. Selects different databases from the top level menu, but selects the wrong one. The user explores the files available but finds nothing relevant. This repeats with a different database.

The user then meta-levels the exercise - the exercise did not specify the tool to be used. The user terminates the telnet window for Folio and starts up Gopher+ Portfolio http://portfolio.stanford.edu/. Portfolio is a different user interface to the same database. It is a graphical Gopher-like (hierarchical menus) structure.

[Portfolio Pict]

Using the graphical Portfolio client it did not take the user long to find the information:

Faculty are listed in the top level menu.
Faculty Interests are listed in the second menu.
Search for faculty turns up on the third page.

Mission accomplished. While unconventional, this approach succeeded.

Analysis

It is interesting to note that user 1 was familiar with the select command (used in the warmup exercise) but did not apply it more broadly. The fact that the SELECT command could be used to switch to other files was not immediately apparent or obvious from the text display.

In fact the navigation required to find the information in the old text based system and the new Portfolio system is quite similar. The systems differ mainly in how they display information.

The basic problem in Folio/Socrates is the lack of an organizing context. In other words, Folio does not help you navigate its information spaces. One space looks much the same as any other and there is no way of telling how deep inside a system you are. Command lines are very flexible. You can jump to the top of the system, go sideways or burrow deeper with simple commands. The only problem is that the user has to remember them or read lots of HELP.

A solution to this is to provide an indicator of where in the hierarchy one is running along the top of the screen. Some examples:

   FOLIO
   FOLIO / SOCRATES
   FOLIO / SOCRATES / FILMS
   FOLIO / SOCRATES / FILMS / TITLE "STAR WARS" / DETAILS
   FOLIO
   FOLIO / GENERAL INFO / FACULTY INTERESTS / NAME "TERRY WINOGRAD"

This consumes little screen space and should be a big help in orienting users in the system by reinforcing the sense of 'movement' among branches. In many cases Folio already does this but it only allows burrowing into the hierarchy. It's inconsistent. You can't go 'UP'.

In other words: making the hierarchy visible is a big step forward. Making the hierarchy navigable would be another.

A second problem is that screens are static. You can't navigate within a screen - the COBOL and mainframe heritage is painfully visible. You can view a long list of results page by page. You can only refer to these results indirectly (by number).

Navigable screens would be a boon - letting the user scroll a list using cursor keys, investigating entries by highlighting them and hitting enter is easier to understand (actions are constrained). The major problem is that this would place a huge load on the server unless the interface was made into a separate client - which is what Portfolio has done.

A final problem with constrained actions is that they are precisely that: constrained and restricting. While cursor keys and point-and-shoot environments are nice, they get in the way when you want to refine your query or do something else (like redo the query or search a different file).

Ideally there would be two separate user interfaces to Folio/Socrates:

Pure command lines - much like todays text mode system, for the library power user. Command lines are flat.
Pure menus - much like todays Portfolio system, for the novice and casual user. Menus are hierarchys.

The current system is a compromise - part command line and part menu system, confounding many in the process.

New Activities

Finding if a book is available at the library

Action: opening Socrates - the Library catalog.
Op: Type FIND at the starting command prompt.
Op: Hit ENTER to perform command.
Note: If the user is currently using a different database, then a separate action needs to be performed - selecting the Socrates general catalog.

Action: Searching for the book's title
Op: Read the list of search types displayed.
Op: Type T to use a Search by Title.
Op: Type A to use a Search by Author.
Op: Hit Enter to continue.
Op: Type the book's title at the Title keywords? prompt. Op: Hit Enter to continue.
Op: Type the book's author at the Author? prompt.
Op: Hit Enter to continue.

Action: Read the search results
Op: Read the list of titles in the result
Op: Note the correct entry
Op: Type DISPLAY CIRCULATION
Op: Type the number of the correct entry noted.
Op: Hit Enter to perform command

Action: Read Status
Op: Read the displayed circulation from the display.

Checking Stanford's policy on Menthol chemical waste

Action: Open the file containing the policy on hazardous waste.
Op: Type SELECT UNIVERSITY POLICY at command prompt.
Op: Hit Enter to perform command
Op: Read the resulting list of sub-files.
Op: Type 2 for the Chemical Safety files.
Op: Hit Enter to open file.

Action: Find the policy on Menthol.
Op: Type FIND
Op: Hit enter to get a list of search types.
Op: Read list of search types
Op: Type NAME
Op: Hit Enter to get name prompt.
Op: Type MENTHOL Op: Hit Enter to start search.

Action: Read the policy.
Op: Read the list of chemicals.
Op: Note the number of the one wanted.
Op: Type DISPLAY FULL
Op: Type the number noted.
Op: Hit Enter to show details.
Op: Read the details.

Changes to Folio/Socrates

Both Folio and Axess are being converted from mainframe monoliths to client-server applications. The Folio port is complete (done by an undergraduate team last year). The Socrates port is nearly done - Socrates will become a WAIS database, searchable by many different clients. Axess is in the planning stages of client-server partitioning.

Clients can support many different interfaces and interaction styles while presenting the same data. Both Portfolio and traditional command line interfaces can co-exist.

This information comes from the Information Systems migration plan for Stanford's Information Infrastructure.

Christian Mogensen / mogensen@cs.stanford.edu

http://www-pcd.stanford.edu/mogens/377/socrates.html