Michael Brooks
A new Dude could do away with city slickers. Instead of expensive consultants to interpret the terrifyingly complex modelling programs used by many businesses, the job may be done by software being developed at Leeds University, United Kingdom.
Dude (decision-support user documentation environment) gives other applications a user- friendly interface and produces “active” documentation. The user can ask all kinds of “what if” questions, changing the data to see how results vary.
The package could eventually be applied to medical diagnostics, managing university departments or reporting scientific results.
Initially Dude is being developed for the European Steel and Coal Community, which needs a user-friendly interface for its models of power station performance under varying fuel and management scenarios.
Active documents, like Dude, act as managers for information, allowing readers to define how they want access to data. The Leeds researchers believe this is how research material will be presented in the future.