Active Reading of Visualizations

Abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Abstract-We investigate whether the notion of active reading for text might be usefully applied to visualizations. Through a qualitative study we explored whether people apply observable active reading techniques when reading paper-based node-link visualizations. Participants used a range of physical actions while reading, and from these we synthesized an initial set of active reading techniques for visualizations. To learn more about the potential impact such techniques may have on visualization reading, we implemented support for one type of physical action from our observations (making freeform marks) in an interactive node-link visualization. Results from our quantitative study of this implementation show that interactive support for active reading techniques can improve the accuracy of performing low-level visualization tasks. Together, our studies suggest that the active reading space is ripe for research exploration within visualization and can lead to new interactions that make for a more flexible and effective visualization reading experience. Permanent repository linkIndex Terms-active reading of visualizations, active reading, information visualization, spectrum of physical engagement

What is Interaction for Data Visualization?

“…• Interface actions operate on other data interface components. Examples include: take notes that are not bound to data items (e.g., document observations/questions/hypotheses/reflections/goals [54]), manage knowledge [45], externalize thoughts [117], and organize, open, close, maximize, and layout/rearrange the interface [54].…”

“…Non-data actions stress the challenge of fostering collaboration [55,80] and reflection over past activities [39,50,84]. Input actions -perhaps the most overlooked actions [62] -stress the challenge of enriching interaction means for data input [4,26,62], ranging from correcting erroneous data [82] to adding metadata and data-aware annotations [39,54,117] to creating knowledge from scratch [59,111]. From a broader perspective, input actions are the actions that allow to refine and integrate human knowledge into the data interface [118].…”

“…Meanwhile in the past decade we have witnessed a growing call for enriching interactivity in visualization systems. Forward-looking research on interaction for visualization advocate for visualization systems that give absolute freedom to end users to actively restructure [73,100], sketch [75], author [69,119] and personalize [57,111] visualizations; to construct visualizations from scratch [59], perform data-aware annotations on them [54,117], and unruly remove distracting information [29]; to enrich visualizations with external knowledge [118], control fluently [36] both data presentations [101] and data pre-processing statistical functions [37]; to indicate uncertainty [82], collaborate with peers [55,80], and interact with visualizations using natural means [66,74] within physically situated settings [63,73,121].…”

ActiveInk

“…Recent research started to study active reading of visualizations. Walny et al [37] conducted a series of studies on active reading with both printed and digital visualizations. They demonstrated that active reading behaviors previously observed on textual documents (e.g., underlining, writing notes in margin) occurred when people interpreted visualizations, and that such behaviors transferred in the digital world.…”

“…ActiveInk is built around a zoomable infinite canvas, on which people can drop visualizations, documents, and images, which we collectively refer to as views, and rearrange them. The ability to lay out the workspace, reorganize and manipulate views was previously shown to be an important component of active reading of visualizations [37]. Freeform inking is provided anywhere on the canvas and on views alike.…”