Steven F. Roth

Data characterization for intelligent graphics presentation

An automatic presentation system is an intelligent interface component which receives information from a user or application program and designs a combination of graphics and text that effectively conveys it. It is a facility that assumes the presentation responsibilities for other programs. An important research question has been how information should be specified or described by an application program for it to be presented by an automatic presenter. This paper proposes a taxonomy of information characteristics which would need to be provided to either human or computer designers for them to create presentations reflecting the individual needs of a diverse group of users. The proposed taxonomy of characteristics defines the representational goals for intelligent interfaces which reason about graphical displays.

Interactive graphic design using automatic presentation knowledge

We present three novel tools for creating data graphics: (1) SageBrush, for assembling graphics from primitive objects like bars, lines and axes, (2) SageBook, for browsing previously created graphics relevant to current needs, and (3) SAGE, a knowledge-based presentation system that automatically designs graphics and also interprets a users specifications conveyed with the other tools. The combination of these tools supports two complementary processes in a single environment: design as a constructive process of selecting and arranging graphical elements, and design as a process of browsing and customizing previous cases. SAGE enhances userdirected design by completing partial specifications, by retrieving previously created graphics based on their appearance and data content, by creating the novel displays that users specify, and by designing alternatives when users request them. Our approach was to propose interfaces employing styles of interaction that appear to support graphic design. Knowledge-based techniques were then applied to enable the interfaces and enhance their usability.

Visage: a user interface environment for exploring information

Visage is a prototype user interface environment for exploring and analyzing information. It represents an approach to coordinating multiple visualizations, analysis and presentation tools in data-intensive domains. Visage is based on an information-centric approach to user interface design which strives to eliminate impediments to direct user access to information objects across applications and visualizations. Visage consists of a set of data manipulation operations, an intelligent system for generating a wide variety of data visualizations (SAGE) and a briefing tool that supports the conversion of visual displays used during exploration into interactive presentation slides. This paper presents the user interface components and styles of interaction that are central to Visages information-centric approach.

Using aggregation and dynamic queries for exploring large data sets

When working with large data sets, users perform three primary types of activities: data manipulation, data analysis, and data visualization. The data manipulation process involves the selection and transformation of data prior to viewing. This paper addresses user goals for this process and the interactive interface mechanisms that support them. We consider three classes of data manipulation goals: controlling the scope (selecting the desired portion of the data), selecting the focus of attention (concentrating on the attributes of data that are relevant to current analysis), and choosing the level of detail (creating and decomposing aggregates of data). We use this classification to evaluate the functionality of existing data exploration interface techniques. Based on these results, we have expanded an interface mechanism called the Aggregate Manipulator (AM) and combined it with Dynamic Query (DQ) to provide complete coverage of the data manipulation goals. We use real estate sales data to demonstrate how the AM and DQ synergistically function in our interface.

On the semantics of interactive visualizations

Interactive techniques are powerful tools for manipulating visualizations to analyze, communicate and acquire information. This is especially true for large data sets or complex 3D visualizations. Although many new types of interaction have been introduced recently, very little work has been done on understanding what their components are, how they are related and how they can be combined. This paper begins to address these issues with a framework for classifying interactive visualizations. Our goal is a framework that will enable us to develop toolkits for assembling visualization interfaces both interactively and automatically.

An interactive visual query environment for exploring data

Direct manipulation of visualizations is a powerful technique for performing exploratory data operations such as navigation, aggregation, and filtering. Its immediacy facilitates rapid, incremental, and reversible forays into the data. However it does not provide for reuse or modification of exploration sessions. This paper describes a visual query language, VQE, that adds these capabilities to a direct manipulation exploration environment called Visage. Queries and visualizations are dynamically linked: operations on either one immediately update the other, in contrast to the feedforward sequence of database query followed by visualization of results common in traditional systems. These features are supported by the architectural concept of threads, which represent a sequence of navigation steps on particular objects. Because they are tied to particular data objects, they can be directly manipulated. Because they represent operations, they can be generalized into queries. We expect this technique to apply to direct manipulation interfaces to any objectoriented system that represents both objects and the relationships among them. NOTE: Color versions of the figures are at, e.g.,

Automating the presentation of information

The problem of creating effective computer displays of data contained in large information systems is addressed. The authors describe SAGE, an intelligent system which assumes presentation responsibilities for other systems by automatically creating graphical displays which express the results they generate. They describe SAGEs architecture and the methods by which it creates presentations. Implementing SAGE required identifying and representing a larger set of task and data characteristics than had been explored previously. The authors also describe several prototypical decision support and management systems which use SAGE in different ways to support the presentation needs of end users and system developers.<<ETX>>

SDM: selective dynamic manipulation of visualizations

In this paper we present a new set of interactive techniques for 2D and 3D visualizations. This set of techniques is called SDM (Selective Dynamic Manipulation). Selective, indicating our goal for providing a high degree of user control in selecting an object set, in selecting interactive techniques and the properties they affect, and in the degree to which a user action affects the visualization. Dynamic, indicating that the interactions all occur in real-time and that interactive animation is used to provide better contextual information to users in response to an action or operation. Manipulation, indicating the types of interactions we provide, where users can directly move objects and transform their appearance to perform different tasks. While many other approaches only provide interactive techniques in isolation, SDM supports a suite of techniques which users can combine to solve a wide variety of problems.

A Framework for Knowledge-based, Interactive Data Exploration

Abstract In this paper we propose a framework that combines the functionality of data exploration and automatic presentation systems to create a knowledge-based interactive data exploration system. The purpose of a data exploration system is to enable users to uncover and extract relationships hidden in large data sets. The purpose of an automatic presentation system is to reduce the need for users to have graphic design expertise and for them to spend a lot of time interacting with graphics packages to view their data. Previous work on data exploration was limited to query mechanisms that were often complex to learn and difficult to use, data manipulation mechanisms that did not provide complete coverage of the operations needed by users (especially the ability to form ad hoc groupings of data), and graphics that were restricted to a small set of predefined visualizations. Automatic presentation research, although addressing these issues, has been limited to the display of small data sets. Furthermore, this research has not supported interactive, user-directed processes of design and data manipulation in automatic presentation systems. We propose a framework that overcomes these limitations of current data exploration systems and integrates new interactive capabilities with automatic presentation components. This approach to supporting data exploration integrates recent work on SageTools, an environment for interactive and automatic presentation design, with a prototypical interactive data manipulation system called IDES. In this paper we present our work on the IDES data manipulation capabilities and discuss requirements for coordinating them with automatic presentation of large data sets.

Graphics and Natural Language as Components of Automatic Explanation

An important component of adaptable interactive systems is the ability to model the systems users. Previous systems have relied on user models tailored to the particular needs of that system alone. This paper presents the notion of a general user model, and describes some of our research on building a general user modelling facility that could be used by a variety of applications. This work focuses on the representation, maintenance, and acquisition issues of modelling long-term beliefs of the user, and describes a general facility for accomplishing these tasks.