Snap-together visualization: can users construct and operate coordinated visualizations?
✍ Scribed by CHRIS NORTH; BEN SHNEIDERMAN
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2000
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 741 KB
- Volume
- 53
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1071-5819
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Multiple coordinated visualizations enable users to rapidly explore complex information. However, users often need unforeseen combinations of coordinated visualizations. Snaptogether visualization (Snap) enables users to rapidly and dynamically construct coor-dinated}visualization interfaces, customized for their data, without programming. Users load data into desired visualizations, then construct coordinations between them for brushing and linking, overview and detail view, drill down, etc. Snap formalizes a conceptual model of visualization coordination based on the relational data model. Visualization developers can easily Snap-enable their independent visualizations using a simple API.
Empirical evaluation reveals bene"ts, cognitive issues and usability concerns with coordination concepts and Snap. Two user studies explore coordination construction and operation. Data-savvy users successfully, enthusiastically and rapidly constructed powerful coordinated}visualization interfaces of their own. Operating an overview-anddetail coordination reliably improved user performance by 30}80% over detail-only and uncoordinated interfaces for most tasks.
2000 Academic Press
IJHCS=20000418=Ravi=Venkatachala=BG
E Data: di!erent data sets have di!erent features and structure.
E ¹asks: what does the user want to accomplish with the data? E ;sers: there is tremendous variation between users in individual user preferences, experience levels, etc.
For example, while Windows Explorer is helpful for some users and tasks, system administrators may need di!erent visualizations. Replacing the outliner visualization of folders with a scatterplot of the folders would enable administrators to quickly spot large old folders for archival (see Figure 1).
Secondly, the implemented visualization tools are typically not programmed to coordinate together. Hence, these alternate combinations usually require custom development. Researchers in our lab stumble over this problem often, and must constantly re-implement coordinations between new unforeseen combinations of visualizations. Unfortunately, this is a poor solution to the problem. Even with good component-based design, these hard-coded combinations are in#exible and di$cult to construct.
716 C. NORTH AND B. SHNEIDERMAN
E To evaluate the usability and bene"t of the Snap system itself and discover potential user-interface improvements. E To gain a deeper level of understanding about users' ability to understand, construct and use coordinated}visualization strategies in general. These are critically important issues for visualization researchers and user-interface designers.