A Visual Browser for Large-Scale Online Auctions

1
A Visual Browser for Large-Scale Online Auctions

• Quang Vinh Nguyen
• and Mao Lin Huang
• Faculty of Information Technology
• University of Technology, Sydney Australia

2
Presentation Outline

• Current navigation for product catalogs of online
  auctions
• The framework of visual online auction store
• Visual browser for online auctions product
  catalogs
• Demonstration
• Conclusion

3
Current Navigation for Product Catalogs

• Product catalogs navigation
• Basic navigation text-based browsing products
• Add-on navigation aids customise to each users
  needs
• Search engineers, personalised recommendation,
  etc
• Multiple views of listings ? ease the seeking of
  item of interest
• Limitation of the current navigation
• Mostly via text-based interface
• Work through several pages via URL links
• ? time consume, perception problem, and cognitive
  overhead

4
The Framework of Visual Online Auction Store
Display, Navigate the Entire Product Catalogs
Hierarchy
Store Products Information
Show all the Appropriate Information of the
Selected Product
Content Management System
5
Visual Browser for Online Auction Product
Catalogs

• Layout use ENCCONs algorithm.
• display the entire or a portion of product
  catalog
• Navigation/Browsing use the semi-transparency
  focuscontext technique.
• navigate quickly and efficiently through the
  product catalog

6
Layout

• Nodes present the Online Auction objects
  information
• Online Auction Objects categories,
  subcategories, auctioned items
• Edges present the relations of online auction
  objects
• Breath hierarchies browse more effectively to
  the specific categories
• Single-only hierarchies retain the consistency
  of the hierarchies

7
Layout (Cont)

• Product catalogs layout use a new
  EnclosureConnection (ENCCON) algorithm
• Advantages space efficiency, fast navigation,
  capability of handle very large amount of
  information

Entire product catalogs of approximately 360 items
8
Navigation/Browsing

• Apply a new focuscontext visualisation technique
• Display both detail-view and context-view using
  semi-transparency
• Detail-view entire display area
• Context-view smaller window at the background
• Only one view is active at a time ? other view
  becomes semi-transparent

9
Navigation/Browsing (Cont)
Reduce to smaller display area and become
semi-transparent
Focused sub-hierarchy
Enlarge to occupy the entire display area
10
Display Property

• Use different colours for auctioned items,
  subcategories of each category
• Draw bold boundaries for categories and
  subcategories
• Highlight new products and ending-today
  products
• find the special items more easily
• Provide menu for interactively adjusting the
  display

11
Display Property (Cont)

• Highlight the category when the mouse is over a
  category.
• Display information of the item when the mouse is
  over an auctioned item.
• Information current bid price, starting data and
  closing date
• Show all information associated to the item when
  the mouse is double-clicked on an auctioned item.

12
Demonstration

• http//staff.it.uts.edu.au/quvnguye/auction_vis/

13
Conclusion

• Present our information visualization component
  for viewing and browsing product catalog of
  online auctions
• Employ ENCCONs layout algorithm and
  semi-transparent focuscontext navigation
• Provide the visual aid for the fast and effective
  product navigation