CS295J/Literature: Difference between revisions

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* [http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1773970 Evaluating 2D and 3D visualizations of spatiotemporal information] Kjellin-2008-E23
* [http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1773970 Evaluating 2D and 3D visualizations of spatiotemporal information] Kjellin-2008-E23
: A frequent topic of interest to brain scientists is longitudinal data: how does the brain change over time? If the brain circuits software were to support answering this kind of question, we might evaluate different approaches to visualization using the methods in this paper. ([[User:Nathan Malkin|Nathan Malkin]], 12 September 2011)
: A frequent topic of interest to brain scientists is longitudinal data: how does the brain change over time? If the brain circuits software were to support answering this kind of question, we might evaluate different approaches to visualization using the methods in this paper. ([[User:Nathan Malkin|Nathan Malkin]], 12 September 2011)
*[http://ejournals.ebsco.com.revproxy.brown.edu/Direct.asp?AccessToken=6VFL2LL89KIIOIXL2I3O9IOHVIC28L2MMF&Show=Object Cognitive Models of the Influence of Color Scale on Data Visualization Tasks] -Breslow-2009-CMI
:([[User:Jenna Zeigen|Jenna Zeigen]], 9/12/11) -- '''Owned: Jenna Zeigen'''


==Evaluation and Metrics==
==Evaluation and Metrics==

Revision as of 02:12, 13 September 2011

Perception

  • Colin Ware: Information Visualization: Perception for Design
Insight into some of the theory of perception as it pertains to building visual interfaces (David)
  • Some unindentified paper(s)/book(s) about Gestalt theories of perception and cognition wikipedia page
These theories, from the 40's inform visual design and may provide an analogy for integration of theory and practice. They describe some characteristics of perception that have been used as evaluative rules in UI design. (David)
A cool technique on "hacking" human perception by modifying the control/display ratio of visible elements to simulate haptic feedback for the user. Strong analysis of which parts of haptic feedback are useful (e.g., vertical elements can be discarded). Pseudo-haptic feedback is implemented by combining the use of visible feedback with the changing sensitivity of a passive input device (e.g., a mouse). E J Kalafarski 16:02, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
"The authors focus at on three things: presentation of information to best match human cognitive and perceptual capabilities, interactive tools and systems to facilitate creation and navigation of visualizations, and software system features to improve visualization tools." First and third points sound relevant. E J Kalafarski 16:02, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Focuses on the commonalities of perception. Rough overview of sensory mechanisms, and strong anecdotal support of not adapting completely to the user, but rather requiring the user to adapt as well. Identifies some common perceptual problems with particular groups of EUs (e.g., blind people). E J Kalafarski 16:02, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
A theory of visual search that builds on the distinction between visual targets that you need to search for in a field of distractors and those that "pop out" at you. (Adam) 16:22, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Discusses some of the automatic interpretation in our perception, focusing on inferring causal relations and animacy.
Affordances are actions that are appropriate for an object and that come to mind when perceiving the object. (Adam) 16:22, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
How the original concept of affordances differs from how it has been used in HCI. (Adam) 16:22, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Outlines direct perception and the original theory of affordances. (Jon) 14:07, 3 February 2009.
Theory of how interfaces can avoid forcing processing at a higher level than the task requires. (Jon) 14:56, 3 February 2009.
Taking advantage of fast perceptual processes to reduce cognitive demands as applied to the design of a thermal-hydraulic system. (Jon) 14:56, 3 February 2009.
Experiment that has implications for gesture interpretation module development.
In the first class, we talked about the problem with Windows Start menus -- how hard it is to navigate and select the right one. This study provides empirical evidence for this problem, confirming the difficulty of acquiring small-sized targets (like the menus) and identifying motor and visual sizes of the targets as limiting factors. (Nathan Malkin, 12 September 2011)
This paper asks the question: does the use cognitive and perceptual models actually help (in this case, the process of design)? They find that "the models can help, but in somewhat unexpected ways": ""goodness" values were not very useful" but it "seemed to facilitate communication ... about design goals and how to achieve those goals". (Nathan Malkin, 12 September 2011)
This paper explores crowdsourcing as a viable method for conducting visualization perception evaluations. They replicate some results of Cleveland and McGill's 1984 graphical perception paper, and do some analysis on cost and performance of using MTurk for these studies on static, chart-type visualizations. (Steven Gomez)

Cognition

  • Colin Ware: Visual Thinking: For Design
Insight into some of the theory of cognition as it pertains to building visual interfaces (David)
A clear description of one part of human thinking; will probably provide pointers to other things to read (David)
Hick's law describes the relationship between the decision-making time and the number of possible choices. (Hua)
Describes a computer program that predicts response time to a query from assumptions from eye-tracking, short-term memory capacity, and the amount of information that can be absorbed from the query in each "glance." Attempts to lay the foundation for explaining several steps of human cognition, including input, memory, and processing. E J Kalafarski 16:02, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Older article but referenced in a lot of newer ones; looks at how conventional problem-solving is ineffective as a learning device. (lisajane)
People are more effective at a task when the stimulus and response representations are compatible and they don't require "translation". (Adam) 16:22, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
This paper discusses the neurological basis for the ImPact test given to athletes after they've suffered a concussion. It provides testing and quantitative measures for verbal memory, visual memory, and reaction times. These simple measures of cognition may be useful to incorporate in an HCI study. (Trevor)

A Framework of Interaction Costs in Information Visualization

ABSTRACT: Interaction cost is an important but poorly understood factor in visualization design. We propose a framework of interaction costs inspired by Norman’s Seven Stages of Action to facilitate study. From 484 papers, we collected 61 interaction-related usability problems reported in 32 user studies and placed them into our framework of seven costs: (1) Decision costs to form goals; (2) System-power costs to form system operations; (3) Multiple input mode costs to form physical sequences; (4) Physical-motion costs to execute sequences; (5) Visual-cluttering costs to perceive state; (6) View-change costs to interpret perception; (7) State-change costs to evaluate interpretation. We also suggested ways to narrow the gulfs of execution (2–4) and evaluation (5–7) based on collected reports. Our framework suggests a need to consider decision costs (1) as the gulf of goal formation.
Includes some ideas for quantitatively evaluating information visualization interfaces (David)


  • Distributed Cognition as a Theoretical Framework for HCI (1994) Christine A. Halverson [1]

Cognition can be thought to be distributable across mediums (outside of the skull). How might we off-load "cognitive" processes to computer systems? (Gideon - Owner)
I think that Ware gets into this in some of his writing about information visualization (or in his second book, thinking with visualization). We can build in external "caches" or other constructs to be part of our cognitive model. It seems like most of an analytical user interface is part of the external cognitive process. (David)

Our use of language serves as a higher-order cognitive system which can be utilized as "scaffolding" in human thought, supporting goal-driven tasks. (Gideon)
It is hypothesized that there are two distinct systems of reasoning in the mind. System 1 is innate and fast, system 2 is controlled and slow. Knowledge of this might help us determine which tasks are candidates for one system or another. (Gideon) (Hua - OWNER)
The authors demonstrate how priming the means to achieving a goal also primes the goal, but inhibits alternative means to achieving the same goal. It means that making the means of achieving a goal salient in an interface will make it more likely that people pursue that goal, and less likely that they will think of other means to pursue it. (Adam)
This paper "provides an extensive survey of the grounding psychological and biological research on visual attention as well as the current state of the art of computational systems". It should make for good background reading if we want to work with visual attention (detecting regions of interest in images). (Nathan Malkin, 12 September 2011)

A user study on the use of examples to improve creativity. Results show that examples are very useful to inspire designers of new ideas. Surprisingly, inspiring examples are not limited to the ones in the design domain, but are expanded to other areas too.

HCI

A detailed study into how people use mobile devices. (Andrew Bragdon - OWNER for Assignment 2)
Examines how practical it is to use electroencephelographs to measure cognitive load, and discusses domain-specific knowledge needed.
Used a learning classifier, trained on low-level mouse and keyboard usage patterns, to identify novice and expert use dynamically with accuracies as high as 91%. This classifier was then used to provide differrent information and feedback to the user as appropriate.
Example of a paper which demonstrated a novel interaction technique still obeys Fitts's law.
Utilized a quantiative model of user performance which used curvature to predict the speed of a pen as it moved across a surface to help disambiguate target selection intent.
Studied task disruption and recovery in a field study, and found that users often visited several applications as a result of an alert, such as a new email notification, and that 27% of task suspensions resulted in 2 hours or more of disruption. Users in the study said that losing context was a significant problem in switching tasks, and led in part to the length of some of these disruptions. This work hints at the importance of providing affordances to users to maintain and regain lost context during task switching.
Showed that task complexity, task duration, length of absence, and number of interruptions all affected the users' own perceived diffuclty of switching tasks. (Andrew Bragdon)
  • John M. Carroll: HCI Models, Theories, and Frameworks: Toward a Multidisciplinary Science
A gargantuan book with chapters by many folks describing some of the models and theories from HCI that may relate back to cognition; may need to create individual (David)
A study in which the GOMS method is used to correctly predict the performance of call center operators using a new workstation. Might be interesting because of the methodology used to decompose the task into basic cognitive and perceptual actions, and then measuring these actions to evaluate the new interface. (Eric) The CPM (Critical Path Modeling) aspect used handles the parallel nature of several human components of HCI and seems to very accurately model the low level tasks from this study. (David)
Marking menus naturally facillitate the transition from novice to expert performance for command invocation, and have been quite influential over the years to research into menu techniques. (Andrew Bragdon)
This is a system which combines gaze input (coarse-grained) and mouse input (fine-grained) to quickly target items. This is important because it "kind of" gets around Fitt's law by using gaze input to "warp" the cursor to the general vicinity of what the user wants to work on. (Andrew Bragdon)
Presents task models of user attention. (Andrew Bragdon) (Adam - owner; Gideon - discussant) DISCUSSANT: E J Kalafarski 22:58, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Discusses the implications of Ecological Interface Design (EID), a theoretical HCI framework, for designing human-computer interfaces and compares performance of EID-informed designs to other comtemporary approaches. (Owner: Jon)
Empirical study of how information workers spend their time. Puts forward a theory of how users organize small individual tasks into "working spheres." (Andrew Bragdon - OWNER; Adam Darlow - Discussant; Steven Ellis - Discussant)
Any visualization which is used extensively by a user over a period of time will be used in the context of that user's daily workflow. It is therefore essential to understand this larger workflow context to design the visualization application appropriately to fit the needs of real world users. This paper studies in detail the daily workflow tasks and patterns of work of analysts, managers and software developers in a medium-sized software company. This paper provides strong empirical evidence that users, rather than working on discrete and well-defined tasks, in reality, switch tasks on average every two to three minutes, and instead, work on larger thematically connected units of work (working spheres). In addition, the study found that users switched between these larger working spheres on average every 12 minutes. Thus, it is strongly indicated by this paper that many information workers are in a constant state of rapid fire multi-tasking. This suggests that for a visualization to be relevant to any of these information workers, it would need to fit into, and support, this workflow. This is just a first step towards understanding how users interact with visualizations in particular, however; future work that studies how users interact with visualizations as part of their larger daily work patterns is warranted, and would be an important component of a broad theory of visualization.
Presents a new taxonomy for automating usability analysis. Advantages of automated evaluation are purported to be advantages linked to efficiency, such as comparing alternate designs, uncovering more errors more consistently, and predicting time/error costs across an entire design. Breaks down a taxonomy with individual benefits and drawbacks of each method, and checks observations against existing guidelines (e.g. Smith and Mosier guidelines, Motif style guidelines, etc). Introduces several visual tools. Looks extremely relevant as a comprehensive survey of existing techniques. OWNER: E J Kalafarski 16:02, 26 January 2009 (UTC) Discussant: --- Trevor O'Brien 23:22, 28 January 2009 (UTC) Discussant: Steven Ellis
Overview of the four major UI evaluation methods: heuristic evaluation, usability testing, guidelines, and cognitive walkthrough, followed by a comparison in their application to a case study. E J Kalafarski 16:02, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Presents the concept of performing a hand walkthrough of the cognitive process, based on another theory of "learning by exploration." Strong results for a limited evaluation timeframe and little or no time for formal instruction of the interface for the user. The reviewer considers each behavior of the interface and its resultant effect on the user, attempting to identify actions that would be difficult for the "average" user. Claims that a given step will not be difficult must be supported with empirical data or theory. The application of cognitive theory early in the design process seems useful in avoiding costly redesigns when problems are identified later. E J Kalafarski 16:02, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Emphasis on heuristic evaluation. Shockingly, usability experts are found to be better at performing this type of evaluation. Usability problems relating to elements that are completely missing from the interface are difficult to identify with this method when evaluating unimplemented designs. E J Kalafarski 16:02, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
One of the first research papers to introduce eye tracking as a viable HCI technique. (Trevor)
Technical details about the implementation of a recent real-time eye-tracking system. (Trevor)
A workshop discussion from CHI 2007 discussing the idea of a "semantic internet" and its relevance to the HCI community. Discusses things like adaptive web interfaces, mashups, dynamic interactions, etc. (Trevor)
A highly cited paper discussing the notion of implicit HCI, including semantic grouping of interactions, and some perceptual rules. (Trevor - OWNER; Andrew Bragdon - discussant; DISCUSSANT: E J Kalafarski 22:57, 28 January 2009 (UTC))
This article investigates the cognitive strategies that people use to search computer displays. Several different visual layouts are examined. (lisajane)
This article reviews basic and applied research documenting failures of visual awareness and the related metacognitive failure and then discuss misplaced beliefs that could accentuate both in the context of the human-computer interface. (lisajane)
  • Shneiderman, Plaisant: Designing the User Interface
My textbook for an HCI class, has many good lists of guidelines. Especially Ch.2 pp 59-102. (lisajane)
  • Robert Mack, Jakob Nielsen: Usability Inspection Methods (Ch. 1 Executive Summary)
Provides an overview of main usability inspection methods, a fair introduction to the industrial applications, as well as certain costs and benefits, of the methods as well as suggestions for expansive research. (Steven)
The first paper talked about how to automatically generate *good* graphs.
Extend their previous paper to analytics tasks.
discuss vis from a variety of angles as for art, science and technology and question and quantify the utility of visualization.
Extend Fitts' to trajectory based tasks.
the first paper that quantifies what insight is by comparing several infoVis tools for bioinformatics.
an application-specific comparison of visualization method. a cool paper.
quantify visual complexity from a statistics point of view.
This paper offers an analysis of four types of GOMS (Goals, Objects, Methods and Selection) based interaction techniques. GOMS is a widely used UI paradigm, made popular by Card et al in The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction (1983).
Using advanced computer vision/AI techniques, this work aims to discern and make use of users' emotions in UI design.
Discusses some techniques and design decisions for constructing adaptable and customizable user interfaces. There are some useful references in the paper on using HMMs and RMMs (Relational Markov Models) for interaction prediction.
This paper presents comparative evaluations of three methods for implementing adaptable user interfaces. The evaluation methodology gives rise to three key concepts that affect the performance of adaptable UIs: frequency of adaptation, accuracy of adaptation, and the impact of predictability.
  • Conceptual Modeling for User Interface Development - David Benyon, Diana Bental, and Thomas Green
Proposes a new set of terminology for describing and comparing existing and future cognitive models of HCI. (Steven)
A paper in form of prelude to the above, gives a good overview of the ERMIA method. (Steven)
Designs an interface for 3D selection of neural pathways estimated from MRI imaging of human brains. The mouse based interface helps neuroscientists to select neural pathways more efficiently and easily. (Chen)
This article examines eye tracking techniques as they pertain to improving search performance in user interfaces. Specific attention is given to menu organization in the context of Web interfaces. Although substantial progress has been made in the past decade, the article draws attention to relevant design issues and concepts, especially as eye tracking methodologies continue continue to grow and improve. (Clara, 11 September 2011--OWNER)
Discusses a speech detection system that uses both auditory and visual cues to more accurately detect speech commands. It aims to recognize the user's intention to speak, and to ignore background noise, or speech recognized as not being directed at the system. Although it is fairly dated, this paper is relevant in that it discusses applications of cognition/perception to HCI. (Michael)
This paper is interesting and relevant to cognition+HCI because it attempts to differentiate between "judgments differing in cognitive demands (visual appeal, perceived usability, trustworthiness)" and see whether those tasks with more cognitive demand have different results. (The paper includes a model to account for these.)
Also, this is interesting to Steve and me in the context of some of our discussions this past spring. (Apparently, yes: "all three types of judgments [including, crucially, trustworthiness] are largely driven by visual appeal".) (Nathan Malkin, 12 September 2011)
This article discusses activity theory, an alterate to present theories surrounding HCI. In particular, it examines the principle differences between activity theory and cognitive theory, applies it to HCI, and suggests implications for the field. While not directly relevant to the proposal, it offers an alternate framework for some of the issues that we discuss. (Clara, 12 September 2011)
Perhaps less useful, only because it's 20 years old, but an interesting read nonetheless: this paper questions the "modern" relevance of cognitive psychology to human-computer interaction design. The primary issue, it argues, is that human-computer systems are entirely unpredictable, and thus, some of the modern understanding of cognition (and, indeed, HCI theory) simply cannot apply given the erratic behavior of computer systems. Instead, he addresses some of the more "useful models," including Fitt's law and theories of visual perception, to define a new space for emerging research in HCI. (Clara, 12 September 2011)
The paper describes approaches to perform pan and zoom tasks in mid-air: bimanual & unimanual, linear & circular gestures.
A technique utilizing multitouch to improve reading efficiency.
An ethnographic study that explores how groups of users approach tabletop interfaces in real environments. Some results contradict existing findings.
Discusses the merits of HCI (here called muCI, for muscle-computer interaction) by detection of forearm muscle activity rather than manipulation of an object such as a mouse or keyboard. (Michael)
(Jenna Zeigen, 9/12/11)

Cognitive Modeling

Discusses the notion of Activity Theory as the basis for HCI research. The most interesting part of this paper for me was the introduction which expressed the need for a Theory of HCI.
Presents Norman's seven stages of action, as well as his model of evaluation. (Steven)
Creates a compelling argument for why distributed cognition research fits in with HCI, and what types of impacts it may have on the HCI community.
This paper (book chapter) looks beyond the relevance of eye tracking methodologies to HCI and instead addresses the data produced. It examines various approaches to analysis and the implications and conclusions that can be drawn. Given that eye tracking is often coupled with other inputs, such as a mouse or a keyboard, analysis is rarely clear-cut: other variables, such as error, saccades, and speed must be factored in. Moreover, eye movements are far less deliberate than mechanical (i.e. mouse) input, and so errors must be handled differently. The chapter discusses each of these issues and subsequently offers solutions. In general, the article argues for the importance of eye tracking, considering it as a central component of HCI methodology. (Clara, 11 September 2011)
Defines the task of the HCI specialist as the application of psychological and anthropological principles to specific design problems. It posits an inherent feud between the accurate study of relative contexts and the necessary, but more general, development of comparative models and results. Gives a coherent overview of activity theory, situated action models, and distributed cognition; finds that activity theory presents the best overall framework. There is little reason given for this ranking, however, and the description of activity theory is the most theoretical and least developed of the three.
Having spent quite a bit of time studying Soviet psychology (from which came activity theory) last semester, I question the validity of the paper’s claim, as its description of activity theory bears the artifacts of the oppressive regulations which the Soviet government imposed on psychologists. Although the theory may sound more practical, it seems fairly weak as a basis for empirical design analysis.
The paper’s strongest point is the criticisms which follow descriptions, in which theoretical shortcomings of each perspective are discussed. (Owner: Steven, Discussant: --- Trevor O'Brien 23:22, 28 January 2009 (UTC))
High-level theory of human-computer dialogues. (Andrew Bragdon)
  • Polson, P. and Lewis, C. Theory-Based Design for Easily Learned Interfaces. Human-Computer Interaction, 5, 2 (June 1990), 191-220.
This is a cognitive model of how users find and learn commands in an unfamiliar user interface. This could potentially be adapted to be a piece of a theory of visualization. (Andrew Bragdon)
Provides a brief history of Cognitive Science and HCI, then compares the effectiveness of the aforementioned theories in aiding design and development. (Owner - week 2 : Steven)
Articles all concerning various issues of cognitive modeling as relates to HCI. (Steven)
Was scared again, but no need to be. Touches only on a subset of cognitive theories (Schema theory, Cognitive load, and retention theories) and undertakes a survey of some software design theories, but does not attempt an explicit mapping between the two. E J Kalafarski 13:48, 20 February 2009 (UTC)
Attempt to apply cognitive psychology to user-interface design. Here, the opposite problem is seen—the author's make no significant attempt to take existing heuristic guidelines into account. E J Kalafarski 13:48, 20 February 2009 (UTC)
Training and consulting firm that claims to take advantage of Cognitive Design in making design and performance improvements. E J Kalafarski 13:50, 20 February 2009 (UTC)
Presents a set of nine contemporary principles for the evaluation of IT systems ("social tools to perform communicative action") based explicitly on cognitive principles. Introduces a notion comparable to usability called actability. Presents a mapping for some basic usability principles to some seminal sets of guidelines. E J Kalafarski 14:29, 20 February 2009 (UTC)
ACT-R is a cognitive architecture developed at CMU. It aims to define the basic cognitive and perceputal operations of human mind. (Hua)
Soar is another cognitive architecture developed at CMU, now maintained in UMich. (Hua)
This paper "provides an extensive survey of the grounding psychological and biological research on visual attention as well as the current state of the art of computational systems". It should make for good background reading if we want to work with visual attention (detecting regions of interest in images). (Nathan Malkin, 12 September 2011)
(Not sure what heading this ought to go under!) Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) offer a neurological corollary to human-computer interfaces: users use their thoughts to signal to machines, instead of relying on physical movements. Thus, the areas activated are purely cognitive, not motor. The article provides an overview of the differences between HCI and BCI, the implications thereof, and the directions that their interaction may take. Relevant to some of the issues and concepts raised in the proposal, in addition to being a rather interesting idea! (Clara, 12 September 2011)
The paper argues that high-level human behavior can be understood by analyzing the chain of fast, low level activity (from 10ms up) in the perceptual/cognitive bands that compose larger behaviors. It gives an intro to ACT-R and variants and some compelling examples for cognitive modeling and eye-tracking. (Steven Gomez)
This paper talks about for the applicability of cognitive modeling to cyberpsychology, the study of the impact of computer and Internet interaction on humans. (Jenna Zeigen, 9/12/11)

Design

see summary for Alexander below (David)
  • UI Design principles (feedback, etc -- find ref)
  • Alexander: A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction
The original design pattern source; what makes a human space work, ineffable best practices, ~250 rules is enough to do communities and house-sized artifacts; could be a good metaphor for making; could be a good metaphor for making human virtual space work? (David)
Considers a range of user interfaces, ranging from the ordinary computer mouse to the cognitive cube, and the heuristics that underly their use. The article covers the logic that lies behind tactile user interfaces, with an eye to the cognitive systems and spatial relations involved. (Clara, 11 September 2011)
A specific UI proposal, but has nice relevant discussion on how we perceive "foreground" items and "background" items and their relationship, taking advantage of this "parallel" processing of perception. Includes the use of visual metaphors, phicons, and a notion they invent called "digital shadows," in which the shadow projected by an object conveys some information on its contents. E J Kalafarski 16:02, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Design method with emphasis on discouraging undesirable behavior, by perhaps forcing the user to adapt to the interface, giving equal weight to user goals, user "non-goals," and wider goals of stakeholders besides the immediate user. The important insight seems to be that these wider goals can enhance the user's experience with the larger system in the long run, if not in the immediate timeframe. Five major design steps. E J Kalafarski 16:02, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
Really awesome book on the evolution of interactions with technology. (Trevor)
Another great book on the practices of interaction design. (Trevor)
An interesting work on the efficiency of minimalist design. Quick read for those interested. (Steven)
A set of design guidelines some of which we may be able to build on in automating interface evaluation; will certainly apply to manual evaluations David Laidlaw
the paper talks about visualization mantra.
A highly-cited work on the development of a language for defining design patterns for use in interface development, with an emphasis on communication between application developers and application domain experts. E J Kalafarski 16:37, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
This is a position paper describing the disconnect between HCI research and real interaction design practices. It analyzes approaches for studying design practice (e.g., reported practice, anecdotal descriptions, first-person research), and argues a need for generative theories of design in order to address practice. (Steven Gomez)

Thinking, analysis, decision making

  • Morgan D. Jones: The Thinker's Toolkit: Fourteen Powerful Techniques for Problem Solving
Set of methods for solving problems that might be incorporated into tools for thinking (David)
  • Keim, Shazeer, Littman: Proverb: The Probabilistic Cruciverbalist
An automatic crossword-puzzle solver; the software framework for building this program may be a metaphor for some thinking groupware with plug-in modules. (David)
  • Thomas, Cook: Illuminating the Path
a research agenda for tools for intelligence analysts; not sure of relevance (David)
  • Richard Thaler, Cass Sunstein: Nudge - Improving Decisions About Wealth, Health, and Happiness
A great, easy read for someone who isn't familiar with the psychological perspective. Focuses mainly on public policy issues, but certain sections (on developing a better social security website, for example) relate specifically to digital design. (Steven)
Work by Jeff Heer of Stanford (formerly Berkley) on using Graphical Interaction Histories within the Tableau InfoVis application. This is a great recent example of "workflow analysis" that we've been discussing in class. Though geared toward two-dimensional visualizations with clearly defined events, his work offers some very useful design guidelines for working with interaction histories, including evaluations from the deployment of his techniques within Tableau. (Trevor)
The authors look into combining user triggered and automatically generated vis. histories.
The authors run a user study to find the tasks involved in collaborative evidence aggregation
Same as the previous one.
The authors propose a model of analysis and identify leverage points for visualization.

Visualization

Brain data sets are huge, and rendering all the information they contain (at the same time) is almost impossible. To deal with this problem, we could use the approach proposed in this paper (with different data): choosing rendering parameters based on where the user's attention is focused, using eye tracking data to determine that. (Nathan Malkin, 12 September 2011)
This paper provides a comparison and discussion of "the relative strengths of different flow visualization methods for the task of visualizing advection pathways". This could be useful in selecting visualization methods for the brain circuits software. (As an added bonus, they cite Laidlaw et al.'s "advection task" right there in the abstract.) (Nathan Malkin, 12 September 2011)
This paper is a good entry point for Ware's other work on neural modeling for visualization. It describes how spatial receptor patterns in the visual cortex enable contour interpretation and related visualization tasks (e.g., particle advection in flow fields). There's also some good discussion about a perception-based approach to visualization, validating visual mappings with perceptual theories. (Steven Gomez)
This paper describes a humans-in-the-loop architecture for guiding layered visualizations with multiple visual parameters toward optimal tunings. They use a genetic algorithm to iteratively produce new "genomes" of visual parameters that are evaluated by humans (and either passed along or terminated in the genetic process). Finally they do some analysis on the surviving visualization space (though for me, this was less interesting than the generative visualization method using humans and the GA). (Steven Gomez)
A frequent topic of interest to brain scientists is longitudinal data: how does the brain change over time? If the brain circuits software were to support answering this kind of question, we might evaluate different approaches to visualization using the methods in this paper. (Nathan Malkin, 12 September 2011)


(Jenna Zeigen, 9/12/11) -- Owned: Jenna Zeigen

Evaluation and Metrics

One alternative to evaluating visualizations and other tools based on the amount of time they save is evaluating them based on how much they help creativity. This paper presents a survey metric for creativity support tools. (Nathan Malkin, 12 September 2011)
When designing interfaces for scientists, we must be mindful of the fact that (like all users) they will be multitasking -- both in terms of cognitive tasks (drawing from multiple sources, evaluating different hypotheses, etc.) and (if the interface allows it) tasks within the software. This paper proposes a definition of multitasking and provides a set of metrics for (computer-based) multitasking. (Nathan Malkin, 12 September 2011)

Development

Not too relevant to the cognition aspects of the proposals, but provides some empirical support for "fast iteration" and related software design techniques, whose virtues are extolled in the proposals. The lesson: if we're going to prototype something for this class, and we want "better design results, more divergence, and increased self-efficacy", we should do it in parallel! (Nathan Malkin, 12 September 2011)
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