Live documents with contextual, data-driven information components

Abstract

We introduce the notion of a live document and we describe our concept of live documents with contextual, data driven information components. The dynamic and interactive features of live documents provide a consistent data source for multimedia presentations targeted to various audiences and multiple platforms. Therefore, they contribute to the solution of key challenges in single sourcing and repurposing. We motivate the use of live documents with sample scenarios from the field of systems documentation. We further discuss how live documents can benefit from an interdisciplinary research approach across the fields of technical communications, systems documentation, and software engineering. Finally, we describe our experiences with prototype implementations of live documents based on Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) and Microsoft Office A utomation, respectively.

InsideInsights: Integrating Data‐Driven Reporting in Collaborative Visual Analytics

“…The increased focus on creating interactive presentations to communicate findings has led to several related concepts. Examples include active reading with live documents [WKM02], literate hierarchies using supplemental materials [GRSG17], interactive narratives [CH18], and external representations [Kir10, RRH * 19]. However, because design choices for visual communication impact comprehension [Kir10, HDR * 13], there often is no single presentation that fits all audiences.…”

Intellectual property aspects

“…To assess product quality, the DMM defines several product attributes along with the required characteristics for each maturity level. For example, graphics formatting ranges from (1) static and informal (e.g., GIF images) to ( 5) editable (i.e., live documents [43]). The levels are inclusive, meaning that a certain maturity level satisfies the characteristics of all lower levels.…”

Sponsors and supporters

“…Despite such efforts, it can be surprisingly hard to find good sample code for a particular need. Especially for black-box components there is little production-strength code publicly available that one can use as a basis for study and adaptation; for instance, we made this experience when customizing Microsoft Office [40].…”