User's Guide to the Visual Communication Concept Explorer (VCCE)

Version 1.0 - E. Sean Rintel, CIOS Associate Director for Technical Development.

1. Introduction

This guide demonstrates why and how the Visual Communication Concept Explorer (VCCE) is a useful tool for Communication researchers to solve research problems. In general, it is oriented towards how to make sense of the VCCE as an entity and how to make sense of the displays that it produces. About half the guide is based on questions, somewhat like a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file, although since the system is new we have no frequently asked questions yet. Anyone reading this guide is encouraged to ask questions so that they (and the answers) can be included in future versions. Please also feel free to submit changes, and, if possible, share further examples of things you have done with the VCCE. All submissions will be acknowledged. We think you will find the VCCE is a great tool--easy and fun to use, efficient, and comprehensive.

Credits: Professor Timothy Stephen authored the server side components of the VCCE, and is the principal designer of the project. The browser applet and desktop interface was programmed by Zhong Zhang. Special thanks are extended to CIOS advisor Professor Sibel Adali for her facilitation of the project and imporant design suggestions. The dictionary feature uses an instance of the WordNet database developed at Princeton University's Cognitive Science Laboratory.

1.1 Structure of the guide

The guide is split into five sections:

1. Introduction;
2. Why you would use the VCCE and what it covers;
3. Issues in running the VCCE;
4. Orientation to the VCCE's displays and commands;
5. Examples, with screenshots, of some goals you can accomplish with the VCCE.

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