Mapping for Multi-Source Visualization: Scientific Information Retrieval Service (SIRS)

This paper introduces SIRS and discusses the design process of a multi-index, multi-source information retrieval system. SIRS provides comprehensive visualization of different document types for the JRC working environment. The interface design is based on elastic window management and on the Focus+Context method to browse large amounts of information without losing its contextual relevance. Source integration was achieved by mapping techniques, on which we applied methods, degree-of-separation and closure, to provide advanced relational context for objects.