iFish

iFish is a technology designed to allow users to explore information graphically in an intuitive manner. The interface allows sorting among a number of objects on the basis of context-dependent characteristics such as discrete tags, popularity, or degree to which the item matches a selected characteristic.

In an iFish interface, the user is presented graphically with a collection of items, and then given the ability to make the “best” ones float to the top, where “best” is entirely user-defined, and based on the item matching or coming close to a set of user-selected criteria.

More information about the iFish project in general can be found here

Our iFish implementation helps students at each sister school to find a suitable partner to collaborate with. Students select an avatar (a fishy image), and then define its characteristics by answering questions about their personalities and interests using a bi-lingual interface.

Once all the students’ avatars are completed, they explore the students in their matching class using sliders to animate the avatars around the screen. They can then select three potential partners from the matching class. The iFish interface allows the students to prioritise characteristics which are important to them in a learning partner (eg, “Quiet” over “Chatty” or “has same favourite activity as me”). At the end of this step, partners are allocated by the system, and the students progress to the next stage of the project.

More information about how to work with this project’s implementation of iFish can be found here.