Thursday, October 9, 2008

InkSeine might make me love Microsoft

InkSeine is nirvana for visually-oriented researchers. The software for Tablet PCs combines inking, searching, gathering and research workflow in a seamless, intuitive and utter-joy-to-use UI. Since this is Lazy Month, I'll leave most of the the show and tell to the creators:

InkSeine integrates four key concepts: it leverages preexisting ink to initiate a search; it provides tight coupling of search queries with application content; it persists search queries as first class objects that can be commingled with ink notes; and it enables a quick and flexible workflow where the user may freely interleave inking, searching, and gathering content. InkSeine offers these capabilities in an interface that is tailored to the unique demands of pen input, and that maintains the primacy of inking above all other tasks. Source

Words don't do it justice. Here's a short video that captures some of the software's brilliance:
<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:04b0b97f-7992-4724-a409-d53d51dcba0b&showPlaylist=true&from=msnvideo" target="_new" title="InkSeine from Microsoft Research - The Official Video">Video: InkSeine from Microsoft Research - The Official Video</a>

Finally, here's a screen shot of the first page of an InkSeine document I'm using to gather information and thoughts for a new blog post I'm romancing.


InkSeine Example

2 comments:

Dale Innis said...

Ink me slightly confused. :)

Am I right that, in this context, "ink" refers to the process of writing stuff on a virtual pad using a pad-style computing, and also to the stuff that's written that way? (Neither of which actually involve, strictly speaking, any ink?)

Botgirl Questi said...

Hi Dale,

It is confusing, and the term can be used in a number of ways. Here's a definition from http://www.real-knowledge.com/digital-ink.htm

Digital Ink is a Microsoft technology that is associated with Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. With the use of a laptop, a computer user can input data using a digital pen, in addition to a standard mouse or keyboard. The process itself, called “inking”, allows users to add digital ink to a full range or Windows applications, appearing on screen as natural handwriting. Digital Inking also allows users to insert a sketch or drawing, jot down a chart and take free-hand notes. It is actually much quicker and easier than using a keyboard.