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Performing activities together in online information environments is not unusual. It is functionally possible for shared information environments to become ‘virtual places’ in which social activities take place. Such environments, however, are traditionally designed based on the concept of digital documents accessed remotely from the outside, rather than on the concept of places. This thesis argues that shared information environments can be designed to allow multi-user navigation to take place <i>inside</i> the space, and suggests they should be designed as places, supporting and reflecting social interaction. A concept called <i>3D Information Place</i> is proposed. A 3D information place is a 3D navigable virtual environment which provides a socio-spatial organisation of information. Its structures and formal attributes have an impact on users’ information-seeking activities, and they adapt to reflect patterns of such activities. Such a concept is based on the concept of place and the context of digital information environments, and leads to a theoretical framework consisting of four major elements: <i>space, information, social factors</i> and <i>digital mediation</i>. It is a fundamental hypothesis of this thesis that combining the four elements into a coherent system can lead to positive effects not only on users’ navigation experience and social interaction, but also on the performance of information environments for the purpose of information-seeking. In order to develop the four-element theoretical framework, this thesis investigates fields including architecture, information visualisation, virtual environments, and theories of hypothesis. The framework is developed in a few steps. Firstly, fundamental relations between information and space are investigated. Secondly, the concept of place is investigated and re-examined based on the context of 3D information environments, leading to the concept of 3D information place. Thirdly, principles of designing a 3D information place are developed based on an anatomical analysis of 3D virtual environments.

Understanding the meaning behind visual data is increasingly important as the quantity of digital images in circulation explodes, and as computing in general and the Internet in specific shifts quickly towards an increasingly visual presentation of data. However, the remarkable amount of variance inside categories (e.g. different kinds of chairs) combined with the occurrence of similarity between categories (e.g. similar breeds of cats and dogs) makes this problem incredibly difficult to solve. In particular, the <i>semantic segmentation</i> of images into contiguous regions of similar interpretation combines the difficulties of object recognition and image segmentation to result in a problem of great complexity, yet great reward. This thesis proposes a novel solution to the problem of semantic segmentation, and explores its application to image search and retrieval. Our primary contribution is a new image information processing tool: the <i>semantic texton forest</i>. We use semantic texton forests to perform (i) semantic segmentation of images and (ii) image categorization, achieving state-of-the-art results for both on two challenging datasets. We then apply this to the problem of image search and retrieval, resulting in the Palette Search System. With Palette Search, the user is able to search for the first time using <i>Query by Semantic Composition</i>, in which he communicates both what he wants in the result image and where he wants it.

Children s library services offer children a means of developing their reading skills through the provision of books and other resources. Children s library services might be operated by public libraries, school library services or schools. A small proportion of public library authorities in the UK choose to operate specialist mobile libraries which cater for children alone. Such vehicles deliver a library service to children across a range of geographic and socioeconomic areas with the stated aims of promoting reading and a love of books, and accessing children who would not otherwise use library services. This study evaluated whether children s mobile libraries (CMLs) across the UK reach those aims and examined the methods by which the aims were targeted. It was decided that the most appropriate research method was to take an inductive perspective and qualitative approach forming a constructivist methodology. The evaluation was achieved by the use of grounded theory as a general method together with ethnographic techniques, in order to observe and understand the interactions of social actors, and identify the processes used to encourage reading. Interviews with key individuals were primarily held to gain access into the field and inform the scope of the research. Participant observations were conducted on 12 of the 26 children s libraries operating in the UK and further interviews with children s mobile library (CML) operators and CML service managers were also carried out. Extensive field notes were taken, then coded and analysed by the grounded theory method in order to understand children s and adults perceptions of the value of a CML to their lives. A model of the influences on children s reading was developed to understand the place of a CML in children s literacy. Existing published research was used initially to set the context of the study, and then as data throughout the project. Published and recognised theories about literacy development, learning, and well-being were consulted at relevant points during the research. Analytical reports of children s library services, practitioner handbooks and professional magazines were searched along with unpublished documents provided by library authorities. Issues that were raised from these sources included: the role of untrained library staff; supplying library services to the socially excluded; working with other agencies and the use of reading intervention schemes. The history, function, purpose and definition of CMLs were outlined. Five theories of event , reach , resource , process and well-being emerged from the data and examples of best practice were identified. The daily operation of a CML was modelled using those five theories to create a transferable standard against which to judge similar children s provision. It was found that children s mobile libraries promote reading because of their transient nature; through the relationships of children with the staff who work on the vehicles; by the nature of the learning environment and specialist stock of the children s mobile library, and because they access children who would otherwise not use any other library service.

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