Steve Szigeti

Output to input: concepts for physical data representations and tactile user interfaces

Tangible user interfaces and physical representations of data are both promising approaches to improving insights derived from large data sets. Interactive tangible representations of data, which seamlessly combine those two approaches, potentially take advantage of cognitive processes, data representations, and interactions not supported by current approaches and may enhance collaboration. This paper describes user evaluations of two sets of prototypes comprised of physical blocks to represent data. One set uses six blocks of identical dimensions and another set uses six blocks with different dimensions. The objectives of this pilot study include (i) making general observations on how users interact with the two prototypes, (ii) making observations on the role these tangible interfaces play in collaboration, and (iii) comparing the two sets of tangible interfaces. We report on the results of the study and discuss future work. make general observations on how users interacted with the tangible interfaces; two, to make observations on the role the tangible interfaces play in collaboration; and three, to compare the two sets of tangible interfaces with one another. We report on the results of the study and discuss future work.

Manipulating Tabletop Objects to Interactively Query a Database

We present a prototype for a Tangible User Interface designed for interactive data visualization, which we believe will be useful for facilitating collaborative work in data analytics. Our hybrid system combines a tabletop graspable user interface with a two-dimensional screen display; the users interrogate the data by manipulating tokens on the tabletop and the screen displays the results of the users query. The objects are tagged using fiducial markers, which are identified with open-source ReacTIVision computer vision software, and the visualization code is written in Processing. In this demonstration, we use radio station listener demographic data, but the system can be used to query various data sets.

Building Tools for Creative Data Exploration: A Comparative Overview of Data-Driven Design and User-Centered Design

Visualization scientists seek means to inspire insights from data, which require creative thinking on the part of analysts as well as cognitive reasoning. In information visualization a focus on the user has proven highly effective in the design of usable and engaging interfaces, although it has been argued that such a focus limits innovation in insights about the data and in the creation of metaphors for visualization. If a user-centered design recapitulates existing knowledge, then a design approach which derives exclusively from the data may provide more innovative results. Our approach considers both the designers and the users, whereby our goal is to elicit creativity in both the design of visualization tools and in their application. We compare user-centered design and data-driven design through tool sets that emerged from each of these methods. User-centered design methodologies were used in the creation of a custom interface for editors at a major national newspaper that visualizes measures of each story’s popularity. Data-driven design methodologies were used to create a tangible user interface for data visualization. With UCD we built a tool that supported the use of data in editorial decisions and deployed familiar metaphors to encourage significant change in workplace practice. With DDD we unleashed creativity on the part of analysts which resulted in a more innovative approach on the part of designers and a gateway to new user communities. We compare strengths and weaknesses of each methodology through a reflection of our design outcomes.

Analyzing Student Travel Patterns With Augmented Data Visualizations

Visualization and visual analytics tools can provide critical support for experts and stakeholders to understand transportation flows and related human activities. Correlating and representing quantitative data with data from human actors can provide explanations for patterns and anomalies. We conducted research to compare and contrast the capabilities of several tools available for visualization and decision support as a part of an integrated urban informatics and visualization research project that develops tools for transportation planning and decision making. For this research we used the data collected by the StudentMoveTO (Toronto) survey which was conducted in the fall of 2015 by Torontos four universities with the goal of collecting detailed data to understand travel behaviour and its effect on the daily routines of the students. This paper discusses the usefulness of new software which can allow designers to build meaningful narratives integrating 3D representations to assist in Geo-spatial analysis of the data.

Materializing data: Notes on collaboration and tangible interfaces with excerpts and additions

The visualization of data elucidates trends and patterns in the phenomena that the data represents, and opens accessibility to understanding complicated human and natural processes represented by data sets. Research indicates that interacting with a visualization amplfies cognition and analysis. A single visualization may show only one facet of the data. To examine the data from multiple perspectives, engaged citizens need to be able to construct their own visualizations from a data set. Many tools for data visualization have responded to this need, allowing non-data experts to manipulate and gain insights into their data, but most of these tools are restricted to the computer screen, keyboard, and mouse. Cognition and analysis may be strengthened even more through embodied interaction with data, whether through data sculpture or haptic and tangible interfaces. We present here the rationale for the design of a tool that allows users to probe a data set, through interactions with graspable (tangible) three-dimensional objects, rather than through a keyboard and mouse interaction. We argue that the use of tangibles facilitates understanding abstract concepts, and facilitates many concrete learning scenarios. Another advantage of using tangibles over screen-based tools is that they foster collaboration, which can promote a productive working and learning environment. Keywords Visualization; Data; Cognition; Citizen Engagement; Embodied Interaction; HCI; Tangible Interface; Data Sculpture; Learning

The Infinite Canvas: A Novel Presentation of Newspaper Search Results on a Tablet

We propose a prototype for displaying news media search results on a tablet device. The Infinite Canvas is intended to enrich the search experience by allowing users to take advantage of spatial relationships in a digital environment to understand connections between news articles. We describe how search results can appear along an X and Y axis. We present the results of evaluations of both the initial prototype and a revised prototype with participants using a tablet in order to (i) better understand user interaction through the completion of tasks and (ii) test assumptions regarding the display of search results by time, relevancy and popularity. Participants responded positively to the infinite canvas, and provided various suggestions for future iterations, which we discuss.

Evaluating hypertext: the quantitative-qualitative quandary

This panel will examine issues regarding the evaluation of hypertext research. The panelists will begin by contrasting four different viewpoints on the role of evaluation in hypertext research. The discussion will then consider questions relating the what evaluation methods should be used and when.