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Information visualization lecture 5
interaction
Katrien Verbert
Department of Computer Science
Faculty of Science
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
katrien.verbert@vub.ac.be
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Where are we?
Fundamentals
Percep'on
Vision
Color
Principles
Techniques
Representa'on
Presenta'on
Interac3on
Applica3ons
Case
studies
Dashboards
Visual
Analy3cs
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Interactive data visualizations
Graphic
design
Data
analysis
Sta3c
visualiza3on
Slide
source:
Michael
Porath
4. 21/03/14 pag. 4
Interactive data visualizations
Graphic
design
Data
analysis
Interac'on
Design
Sta3c
visualiza3on
User
interface
design
Exploratory
data
analysis
Interac3ve
visualiza3on
Slide
source:
Michael
Porath
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Why interaction?
• When is (static) representation not enough?
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Why interaction?
• When is (static) representation not enough?
Scale
• Too
many
data
points
• Too
many
different
dimensions
Storytelling
Explora3on
Learning
Slide
source:
Michael
Porath
7. 21/03/14 pag. 7
User intent: what is the objective?
Select
Reconfigure
Encode
Abstract
/
elaborate
Filter
Connect
Explore
Yi
et
al.
2007
8. 21/03/14 pag. 8
User intent: what is the objective?
Select
Reconfigure
Encode
Abstract
/
elaborate
Filter
Connect
Explore
User
intent
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OECD Regional Explorer
Mul'ple
views
of
same
data
Selec'ng
or
highligh'ng
in
one
case
generates
highligh'ng
in
another
h<p://stats.oecd.org/OECDregionalsta's'cs/
38. 21/03/14 pag. 38
Where do we like to live?
h<p://www.nieuwsblad.be/ar'cle/detail.aspx?
ar'cleid=DMF20140114_021&__ac'on_ids=10203078490025972&__ac'on_types=o
g.recommends&__source=other_mul'line&ac'on_object_map=[199057810301963]
&ac'on_type_map=[%22og.recommends%22]&ac'on_ref_map
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Scenario 1: Minard’s map
• Sta'c
display
• No
physical
interac'on
• Encoded
data
immediately
viewable
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Scenario 2: searching for entertainment in London
• discrete information space
• stepped interaction
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Scenario 3: estate agent wants to find a house
• Discrete information space
• Continuous interaction
• Responsive system
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Scenario 4: coffee table displays advertisements
• Discrete information space
• Moving images
• No physical interaction
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Scenario 5: electronic circuit designer effect of
the value of a component
• Continuous interaction
• Continuous relation
• Immediate response
• Preliminary calculation may be needed
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Form
Intention
Form
Action plan
Execute
Action
Evaluation
Interpretation
Perception
Change in
World
Gulf
of
execution
Gulf
of
evaluation
Goal
Norman’s Action Cycle
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A sequence of interactions and the corresponding view changes are interpreted
to form a mental mapping
Display change
Perception
Interpretation
time
about 50 msec
Execution
Display change
Perception
Interpretation
time
about 50 msec
Execution
Sequence of interactions
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Circles indicate the qualitative effect, on some overall circuit property, of variation in
the corresponding component
Dynamically triggered pop-out
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Stepped interaction in discrete information spaces
We
say
that
the
user
must
navigate
from
one
loca'on
in
discrete
informa'on
space
to
another
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Form
Intention
Form
Action plan
Execute
Action
Evaluation
Interpretation
Perception
Change in
World
Gulf
of
execution
Gulf
of
evaluation
Goal
Stepped interaction
• Challenge: support user to form
an action plan
• User must decide which is the
single most beneficial movement
• Questions:
– Where
am
I?
– Where
can
I
go?
–
How
do
I
get
there?
– What
lies
beyond?
– Where
can
I
usefully
go?
+
– Where
have
I
been?
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The cloud formed above an island invisible beyond the horizon provides a navigational cue –
suggests what is there and how to get there.
Navigational cue
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Navigational cues
We look for cues that will answer:
Where can I go from here?
How do I get there?
Questions refer to
(1) a movement in information space
(2) interaction required to achieve movement
è Defined as sensitivity
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Sensitivity
sensitivity: a movement in information space and the
interaction required to achieve it
S=SM, SI
• SM is a single movement in information space
• SI denotes the interaction needed to achieve the movement
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The label ‘cafe’ and the flat plate provide navigational cues by showing where the user
can go (the cafe) and how they can get there (push the door)
Illustration
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Part of a web page. Each label and surrounding grey area indicate that a mouse
click on the area (SI) will cause movement (SM) to another page concerned with the
selected type of holiday
Illustration II
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Black encoding of houses that fail one attribute limit provides sensitivity information
Example encoding of sensitivity info
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In a limit positioning tool colour coding indicates that selection will be unaffected while
the lower limit stays within the white region. When a limit moves into the yellow region
selection will be affected
1 2 3 4 5
Number of bedrooms
Aggregate sensitivity
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Limits placed on house attributes by a user leads to the display of houses satisfying
those limits on the map
Price
Number of bedrooms
Journey time
£0k
£50k
£100k
1
2
3
4
5
0
mins
30
mins
Dynamic query interface
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A possible modification to the Dynamic Queries interface. Houses violating only one limit
are identified, so that sensitivity is explicit rather than having to be discovered by manual
movement of the limits
Price
lower
limit
upper
limit
Three houses which satisfy all limits with the
sole exception of the upper limit on Price
Sensitivity cues
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In the EZChooser outline cars are those that satisfy all requirements except one.
Selection of the range immediately underneath an outline car ensures that the car then
satisfies all requirements
EZChooser
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Residue
• Definition of sensitivity has assumed a single movement in information
space – from one page to another
• Normally a succession of pages is visited before a problem is solved.
• The user is continuously asking ‘what lies beyond?’
• Thus a representation of a movement by a cue which additionally
indicates what lies beyond that single movement could enhance
navigation.
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Residue
residue: an indication of distant content in the SM encoding
‘distant’ implies content requiring more than one movement
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Representation of the top two levels of an hierarchically structured menu-based system
providing information about animals
Mammals
Birds
Fish
Insects
Cats
Bears
Tigers
Whales
Animals
Mammals
Mammals
SM
Insects
SM
Cats
SM
Encoding of SM and
SI for
Mammals
Mammals
Birds
Birds
Fish
Fish
Insects
Insects
Cats
Cats
Bears
Bears
Tigers
Tigers
Whales
Animals
Mammals
Mammals
SM
SM
Cats
SM
Encoding of SM and
SI for
Mammals
Mammals
Birds
Birds
Fish
Fish
Insects
Insects
Cats
Cats
Bears
Bears
Tigers
Tigers
Whales
Animals
Mammals
Mammals
SM
Cats
SM
Encoding of SM and
SI for
Mammals
Mammals
Birds
Birds
Fish
Fish
Insects
Insects
Cats
Cats
Bears
Bears
Tigers
Tigers
Whales
Animals
Mammals
Mammals
SM
Cats
SM
Encoding of SM and
SI for
Mammals
Residue
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That part of a 26 menu to be traversed in a successful search for the target word ‘Marlin’
Snowberry
et
al.
(1983)
Science Culture
Biology Technology
Medicine Zoology
Fish Animal
Freshwater Saltwater
Marlin Sailfish
Study on effect of hierarchy structure
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1
2
3
4
5
6
10
20
30
40
Percent
total
error
Menu level
Errors made at different levels of a narrow and deep six-
level menu in the search for a target at the lowest level
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50
60
70
80
90
100
Percentcorrectsearch
Number of options displayed at each level
2
4
8
64
Percentage correct search as a function of menu structure
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Example of the provision of an ‘Upcoming’ help field, where samples from the next lower
level help to enhance confidence in the interpretation of the menu options (Snowberry et
al. 1985)
Help fields
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Scent
So far: design cues that encode sensitivity and distant content
User must assess benefit of each available movement, not only
asking:
Where can I go from here?
but crucially,
Where can I most beneficially go from here?
è defined as scent (Pirolli and Card, 1999)
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Scent
scent: the perceived benefit associated with a movement in the
information space, evaluated following the interpretation of one
or more cues.
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remote content
Residue
(= cue encoding
remote content)
sensitivity cues
SM and SI
encoding
Interpreted
sensitivity cues
and residues
scent
human evaluation
of the benefit of
available SMs
human interpretation
Relation between sensitivity, residue and scent
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Distance of a black house to a limit may influence the choice of limit adjustment
Encoding to support the evaluation of scent
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Where am I?
• Questions so far:
Where
can
I
go
from
here?
Do
do
I
get
there?
What
lies
beyond?
Where
can
I
usefully
go
from
here?
• Next:
Where
am
I?
and
Where
have
I
been,
because
I
may
want
to
go
back?
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Breadcrumbs
• Represent history
• From the story Hans and Gretel
• Two types:
– Path
breadcrumbs
– Loca'on
breadcrumbs
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A representation of history leading to the current location
User’s
path
Current
location
Path breadcrumbs
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http://news.bbc.co.uk
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/default.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_counties/4932646.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_counties/4892000.stm
Back
An ordered list of recently visited URLs
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Back
An ordered collection of miniatures of recently visited web
pages may provide useful navigational cues
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Location breadcrumbs (red) provide an awareness of the structure of a site within
which the current location resides
Location
structure
Userʼs
path
Location breadcrumbs
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Two important aspects
of passive interaction
1. During typical use of a visualization tool, most of the user’s
time is spent on passive interaction – often involving eye
movement
2. Passive interaction does not imply a static representation
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Static display
Would you go to India just to see if you wanted to be there?
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Static representation of outline cars that satisfy all requirements except one: engenders
a ‘see and go’ approach rather that a ‘go and see’ approach
Static display
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Visual browsing undertaken by a person with an interest in books on cognitive psychology, on
approaching a book display. The first regional focus (red) explores the entire collection to establish
a new focus (green) associated with psychology. As a result of the exploration of the green region a
new region of focus (blue) is established concerned with cognitive psychology.
First regional focus Second regional focus
Third regional focus
Visual interaction
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A continuous sequence of
representations of the US dollar
– euro exchange rate
Moving displays
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Norman’s Action Cycle for involuntary browsing
Form
Intention
Form
Action plan
Execute
Action
Evaluation
Interpretation
Perception
Change in
World
Goal
Gulf
of
evaluation
Form
Intention
Form
Action plan
Execute
Action
Form
Intention
Form
Action plan
Execute
Action
Evaluation
Interpretation
Perception
Change in
World
Goal
Gulf
of
evaluation
Change
in World
Change
in World
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A number of randomly generated designs in parameter space (a) are simulated and the
corresponding properties displayed in performance space (b). If acceptable performance
is identified in performance space (b) the corresponding designs can be traced back to
parameter space (a)
Influences
107. 21/03/14 pag. 107
Generalized selection via interactive query
relaxation (Heer et al. 2008)
h<p://vis.berkeley.edu/papers/generalized_selec'on/
109. 21/03/14 pag. 109
Limits placed on the four stresses S1 to S4 have been brushed into the parameter
histograms, with red designs indicating those which satisfy all limits on S1, S2, S3 and S4
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With information visualization, Norman’s ‘change in world’ consists of an old view of data
being replaced by a new view
PerceptionExecute
Action
Change in World
Old
view
New
view
Interaction dynamics
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Replacement of one representation (a) by another (b) might best be achieved by
animation through the representations of (c)
A
B
C
D
E
F
Country
(a) (b)
(c)
Interaction dynamics
116. 21/03/14 pag. 116
References
• Field, G. E., & Apperley, M. D. (1990). Context and selective retreat in
hierarchical menu structures. Behaviour & Information Technology, 9(2),
133-146.
• Heer, J., Agrawala, M., & Willett, W. (2008, April). Generalized selection
via interactive query relaxation. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 959-968).
ACM.
• Pirolli, P., & Card, S. (1999). Information foraging. Psychological review,
106(4), 643.
• Snowberry, K., Parkinson, S. R., & Sisson, N. (1983). Computer display
menus. Ergonomics, 26(7), 699-712.
• Snowberry, K., Parkinson, S., & Sisson, N. (1985). Effects of help fields
on navigating through hierarchical menu structures. International Journal
of Man-Machine Studies, 22(4), 479-491.
• Yi, J. S., ah Kang, Y., Stasko, J. T., & Jacko, J. A. (2007). Toward a
deeper understanding of the role of interaction in information
visualization. Visualization and Computer Graphics, IEEE Transactions
on, 13(6), 1224-1231.
