Abstract—In this paper we investigate the effectiveness of animated transitions between common statistical data graphics such as bar charts, pie charts, and scatter plots. We extend theoretical models of data graphics to include such transitions, introducing a taxonomy of transition types. We then propose design principles for creating effective transitions and illustrate the application of these principles in DynaVis, a visualization system featuring animated data graphics. Two controlled experiments were conducted to assess the efficacy of various transition types, finding that animated transitions can significantly improve graphical perception.

Abstract — We introduce the Word Tree, a new visualization and information-retrieval technique aimed at text documents. A word tree is a graphical version of the traditional "keyword-in-context " method, and enables rapid querying and exploration of bodies of text. In this paper we describe the design of the technique, along with some of the technical issues that arise in its implementation. In addition, we discuss the results of several months of public deployment of word trees on Many Eyes, which provides a window onto the ways in which users obtain value from the visualization. Index Terms—Text visualization, document visualization, Many Eyes, case study, concordance, information retrieval, search.

In order to provide well-grounded guidelines for interface design, we systematically examined the effects of 2D geometric transformations and background grids on visual memory. We studied scaling, rotation, rectangular fisheye, and polar fisheye transformations. Based on response time and accuracy results, we found a no-cost zone for each transformation type within which performance is unaffected. Results indicated that scaling had no effect down to at least 20 % reduction. Rotation had a no-cost zone of up to 45 degrees, after which the response time increased to 5.4 s from the 3.4 s baseline without significant drop in accuracy. Interestingly, polar fisheye transformations had less effect on accuracy than their rectangular counterparts. The presence of grids extended these zones and significantly improved accuracy in all but the fisheye polar transformations. Our results therefore provided guidance on the types and levels of nonlinear transformations that could be used without affecting performance, and provided insights into the roles of transformations and grids on visual memory.

Radial, space-filling (RSF) techniques for hierarchy visualization have several advantages over traditional node-link diagrams, including the ability to efficiently use the display space while effectively conveying the hierarchy structure. Several RSF systems and tools have been developed to date, each with varying degrees of support for interactive operations such as selection and navigation. In this paper, we describe what we believe to be a complete set of desirable operations on hierarchical structures. We then present InterRing, an RSF hierarchy visualization system that supports a significantly more extensive set of these operations than prior systems. In particular, InterRing supports multi-focus distortions, interactive hierarchy reconfiguration, and both semi-automated and manual selection. We show the power and utility of these and other operations, and describe our on-going efforts to evaluate their effectiveness and usability.

Effective representation of large, complex collections of information (datasets) presents a difficult challenge. Visualization is a solution that uses a visual interface to support efficient analysis and discovery within the data. Our primary goal in this paper is a technique that allows viewers to compare multiple query results representing user-selected subsets of a multidimensional dataset. We present an algorithm that visualizes multidimensional information along a space-filling spiral. Graphical glyphs that vary their position, color, and texture appearance are used to represent attribute values for the data elements in each query result. Guidelines from human perception allow us to construct glyphs that are specifically designed to support exploration, facilitate the discovery of trends and relationships both within and between data elements, and highlight exceptions. A clustering algorithm applied to a user-chosen ranking attribute bundles together similar data elements. This encapsulation is used to show relationships across different queries via animations that morph between query results. We apply our techniques to the MovieLens recommender system, to demonstrate their applicability in a real-world environment, and then conclude with a simple validation experiment to identify the strengths and limitations of our design, compared to a traditional side-by-side visualization.

The two dominant ways of finding information in a document collection are searching and browsing. These two paradigms are complementary: searching is able to provide specific information quickly, while browsing is useful in cases where appropriate search keywords are nonexistent, or unavailable to the user. In this work, I introduce MemoPlex Browser, an interactive tool for searching and browsing a document collection. MemoPlex Browser uses the semantic similarities between the documents as links to smoothly and efficiently browse from one document to another. In addition, it uses clustering to give a better overview of the collection's content, and to maintain user context while browsing.

Large data sets are difficult to analyze. Visualization has been proposed to assist exploratory data analysis (EDA) as our visual systems can process signals in parallel to quickly detect patterns. Nonetheless, designing an effective visual analytic tool remains a challenge. This challenge is partly due to our incomplete understanding of how common visualization techniques are used by human operators during analyses, either in laboratory settings or in the workplace. This thesis aims to further understand how visualizations can be used to support EDA. More specifically, we studied techniques that display multiple levels of visual information resolutions (VIRs) for analyses using a range of methods. The first study is a summary synthesis conducted to obtain a snapshot of knowledge in multiple-VIR use and to identify research questions for the thesis: (1) low-VIR use and creation; (2) spatial arrangements of VIRs. The next two studies are laboratory studies to investigate the visual memory cost of image