Lisa Tweedie

Characterizing interactive externalizations

This paper seeks to characterize the space of techniques that exist for interactive externalisations (visualizations). A selection of visualizations are classified with respect to: the types of data represented, the nature of the visible feedback displayed and the forms of interactivity used. Such characterization provides a method for evaluating potential designs and comparing different tools.

The Attribute Explorer: information synthesis via exploration

Abstract The Attribute Explorer is a visualization tool in which the graphical and interactive presentation of data supports the human acquisition of insight into that data. The underlying concept employed is that of interactive linked histograms. The advantage of the Attribute Explorer derives from its ability to support both qualitative exploration and quantitative design decisions, as well as a smooth transition between these two activities.

Visualisation for functional design

We present two novel visualisation tools: the Influence Explorer and the Prosection Matrix. These were specifically created to support engineering artifact design and similar tasks in which a set of parameter values must be chosen to lead to acceptable artifact performance. These tools combine two concepts. One is the interactive and virtually immediate responsive display of data in a manner conducive to the acquisition of insight. The other, involving the precalculation of samples of artifact performance, facilitates smooth exploration and optimisation leading to a design decision. The anticipated benefits of these visualisation tools are illustrated by an example taken from electronic circuit design, in which full account must be taken of the uncertainties in parameter values arising from inevitable variations in the manufacturing process.

The influence explorer

This paper illustrates the benejits, for a wide range of design activities, of Interactive Visualization Artifacts. INTRODUCTION In an extremely wide range of design tasks, of which electronic product design is an example, the designer is concerned with the influence of the parameters whose values can be chosen upon the performances which are of direct interest to the customer. Interactive visualization allows the fluent exploration of the effect of parameters upon performances and, thereby, the acquisition of insight, a valuable commodity in any design situation. INFLUENCE PROBLEMS In any design the performances of an artifact are determined by a set of parameters (Figure 1). Requirements are placed by a customer on the performances F1, F2... .Fn (F). It is then the task of the designer to choose values of the individual parameters PI ,P2,..Pn (P) that will lead to a design that satisfies these requirements. There may easily be as many as 100 Ps and Fs of interest. Design is difficult, partly because each performance is determined by many parameters, partly because the relation between P and F is usually non-linear, and partly because the requirements may be difficult or impossible to satisfy. The greatest difficulty, however, arises because, whereas F can be directly calculated if P is known, the reverse is not true. Even if a satisfactory parameter set is found, a further complication arises. Uncertainty is always present in the manufacturing process, so that each parameter is characterised, not by a single value, but by a nominal value and a tolerance range. This tolerance range defines the extent to which a parameter may randomly differ from the nominal value. Mindful that wider tolerances are usually associated with lower cost, one of the designer’s tasks is to choose a tolerance range for each parameter so that, despite parameter variation within this range, as many massproduced copies of the artifact pass the specification as possible. The fraction that pass is called the yield. Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, the ACM copyright notice and the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of ACM. To copy otherwise, or to republish, requires a fee and/or specific permission. CHI’ Companion 95, Denver, Colorado, USA

VICKI: the VIsualisation Construction KIt

The human acquisition of insight into multivariate data can be greatly enhanced if users can view and interact with that data graphically. Many Interactive Visualisation Artifacts (IVAs) have been developed for such activities, but they tend to focus on a single task. The flexibility of the VICKI (the Visualisation Construction Kit) environment allows users to create IVAs, with a level of functionality and appearance, suitable for their specific needs. This paper introduces the concepts behind VICKI and discusses issues of future development.

Describing interactive visualization artifacts—DIVA

DIVA is a notation for describing interactive visualization artifacts (IVA). This notation forms one part of my thesis work the overall aim of this thesis is to find ways to improve the design of WAS. By describing different IVAS I hope to elicit general principles to aid this process. elementary intermediate overall

Responsive visualisation-a tool for analog designers

The authors illustrate the potential benefits, for analog circuit design, of responsive visualisation. By means of the visualisations presented, they advocate an approach to tool design that appears to offer considerable potential for a new generation of CAD tools.

Sampling Schemes for Model Visualization

This article illustrates a technique for visualizing nonlinear mappings ƒ:ℝk → ℝm that arise frequently in engineering applications. The idea is based on viewing sections ƒ−1(B) of the domain ℝk, and ƒ(A) of the range ℝm, respectively. After suitable discretization, such sections are easily approximated with familiar brushing operations in scatterplot matrices. An obvious approach to discretization is to evaluate f on a factorial grid in ℝk and view the sections by restriction to the grid and its image. The problem is that factorial grids grow large quickly for desirable numbers of grid points (knots) and even moderate dimensions k. The problem can be solved by thinning factorial grids using techniques familiar from experimental design: orthogonal arrays constructed from sets of orthogonal Latin squares. As a result, one obtains manageable sets of domain points with desirable visual properties, high density in each variable pair, and the ability to capture pairwise variable interactions in ƒ. The benefits of this scheme are illustrated using a model of stresses in the manufacture of lamp filaments. The use of experimental designs in the analysis of computer-generated quantitative models is well established in the literature. The main application is for estimating high-dimensional integrals, but Owen (1992) mentioned also the use for visualizing such models. The purpose of this article is to execute in detail one possible approach to model visualization, namely, one based on familiar brushing operations on scatterplot matrices.

An interactive visualisation tool for analog design

The design of an analog circuit, particularly to accommodate component tolerances, can benefit immensely from insight into the complex relations between designable parameters and circuit performances. Such insight is currently acquired via tedious exploration, but this exploration can now be significantly enhanced by an interactive tool called the Influence Explorer. Its graphical presentation of precalculated data relating parameters and performances allows fluent qualitative exploration, including the discovery of important trade-offs and correlations. The Influence Explorer also provides a smooth transition to quantitative design decisions, including those involved in tolerance design.