Abstract: A user interface for accessing a database, organized into an information landscape, uses an architectural metaphor, namely, a stadium, to organize the information of the database for greater user accessibility. Spotlight and query tools are used to help the user access items within the database. A multi-user version includes a chat space feature.

Abstract: A user interface for querying and displaying records from a database employs a physical metaphor for the process of constructing queries and viewing results. The search criteria are shown as strings of beads in a three-dimensional scene, each bead representing a criterion and each string representing a different category. For example the criteria, drama, action, suspense, and horror may be included in a category of genre. Criteria are selected to form a query by moving corresponding beads to a query string. User preference profiles can be constructed in the same way. To make the entry of key words possible in such an interface, key words are culled from search results based on frequency of appearance in returned records from a search or based on the frequency with which they are approved.