Iconic communication system by XML language

Abstract

Traditional iconic systems establish direct iconic communication between a user and his environment by translating iconic sentences in sentences of a natural language, or by translating them into SQL (Structured Query Language) queries for relational data bases. This approach is limited because it is not suitable for communicating through the Internet which allows users of diverse background and culture to communicate all over the world. This paper presents SCILX, a XML-based iconic communication system which in addition to the functionalities of existing iconic systems enables communication through the Internet using the World Wide Web and the XML technologies. The approach has a formal foundation based on formal grammars of icons. A case study of an iconic interface for a multi-media database in traditional medicine (MEDITRA) is presented.