Displays as Data Structures: Entity-Relationship Models of Information Artefacts

Abstract

The analytical tools of database modelling can be applied to information artefacts. We extend a well-known technique, entity-relationship modelling, to give models (‘structure maps’) of information structures in both static (paper-based) and interactive cases. Structure maps can reveal deep similarities between different-seeming devices, set bounds for searching and updating information structures, and reveal likely discrepancies between the `system image’ and the intended user’s conceptual model, and they lay bare the resources available for display-based problem-solving.