Rapid serial visual presentation

Abstract

Rapid Serial Visual Presentation, or RSVP, is the electronic equivalent of riffling a book in order to assess its content. RSVP allows space to be traded for time and has tremendous potential to support electronic information browsing and search particularly on small displays. However, before this potential can be realised, it is necessary to investigate the parameters involved in the successful application of RSVP in the user interface. The rapid display of images or text is well within the capabilities of current desktop computers and even of current or near future mobile devices. The limiting factor in the application of RSVP, therefore, has to be the limited capability of the user's visual system. Users' reading comprehension with RSVP of text has been studied extensively. The transfer of information with RSVP of images, however, has received relatively little attention. This paper examines some of the problems with applying RSVP for image browsing and search.