The User Interface for Interactive Search

In January 1971, the AFIPS Information Systems Committee sponsored a workshop on "The User Interface for Interactive Search of Bibliographic Data Bases." This narrower topic was chosen intentionally to give the Workshop a focus suitable for intensive discussion within a small group. Now that the Proceedings are available it is appropriate to highlight those user interface characteristics shared by a less restricted range of applications. The keynote for the panel will be "what goes on in front of the terminal"---what facilities the user requires, what services the computer can provide, and how the user responds to data display. Understanding the exchange of data between the user and the computer at the interface during search will enable designers to implement systems truly responsive to search needs.