4.5 Reflection 4: NEUVis Data-Visualisation Schematic for visualisation
designers
Design tools are often used by designers as part of their process. For example, they may be used to identify with and create empathy for users during the inspiration stage of the design process, or to help effectively iterate through concepts in the ideation stage. One tool that commonly is used in many design fields is the user persona. The Nielsen Norman Group, a significant voice in the field of User Experience design published an article describing benefits of user personas [11]. They define personas:
A persona is a fictional, yet realistic, description of a typical or target user of the product. A persona is an archetype instead of an actual living human, but personas should be described as if they were real people. [11]
This tool is used to help designers identify with their users. In meetings the persona is identified by the name that is given to the person described. It acts as shorthand for all of the “attributes, desires and
behaviours” [11] that require consideration during the design process. NEUVis design requires this kind
of understanding about the user, but also about the data. In response to this, a tool was developed that is designed to act in a similar way, but for understanding datasets for visualisation, rather than understanding the intended audience of a product.
4.5.1 The NEUVis Data-Visualisation Schematic
The user persona tool was used as a model that can be used to construct a tool for NEUVis design. This tool is used to help the designer create an understanding of the data and visualisation goals in relation to the context of the users. The tool is shown in table 4.1. The name NEUVis Data-Visualisation Schematic was chosen because the tool is a symbolic and simplified version of the information to be included and design requirements of NEUVis.
4.5.2 Part 1: Data
Data Type
A description of the properties of the dataset being visualised.
Data Dimensionality
A description of the dimensionality of the data.
Data Establishment
This shows what background knowledge may be persistent in the general understanding. For ex- ample, is may be assumed that the general population understands more about “space” than “quantum
Table 4.1: NEUVis Data-Visualisation Schematic
Part 1: Data Consideration
Type qualitative, quantitative, temporal, geospatial Attributes
Dimensionality 2D, 3D, 3D temporal, high-dimensional, high velocity/realtime
Attributes Establishment Cutting edge research, new developments on old concepts,
classical sciences
Relevance Applicability abstract, actionable, informational, warning, edification,
insight
Relevance Acquisition Boundary object type: syntactic, semantic, pragmatic Attributes
Part 2: Visualisation Consideration
Goals The take-away message Relevance
Interface Playful, self-effacing, emotive, static, interactive, animated, category of interaction (active, reactive, interactive)
Interaction Construction Novel, artistic, ambient, narrative, exploratory, familiar Interaction Context Museum, public space, art exhibition, social media project,
website, news article
Relevance Communication Boundary object type: syntactic, semantic, pragmatic Relevance
4.5. REFLECTION 4: NEUVIS DATA-VISUALISATION SCHEMATIC FOR VISUALISATION DESIGNERS 85
mechanics.” Therefore, if the data is acquired through astrophysics research, it has a different level of general understanding than data relating to quantum computing.
Data Applicability
Not all NEUVis is about “doing something”, or achieving an objective. For example, artistic visu- alisation exists for the sake of making art and the aesthetic experience for the viewer. This section describes the application of the data to the user’s context.
Data Acquisition
Describe the boundary object that is used to understand the data. Also how it was collected or generated, and where accountability for the data itself lies.
4.5.3 Part 2: Visualisation
Goals
Describe the take-away message of the visualisation, what insight is available to the users, or what objective the visualisation has.
Interface
Describe the kind of interface that lies between the user and the data. If the visualisation is interactive,
the category1of interaction should be described. Active interaction systems allow users to select con-
tent to be displayed and act as syntactic boundary objects. Reactive systems respond to external stimuli, such as user behaviour or the surrounding environment. Reactive systems may act as syntactic or semantic boundary objects. Interactive systems allow the addition of new information into the system to influence its output. Interactive systems will act as pragmatic boundary objects.
Construction
Describe elements of visual design, artistic metaphor, or graphical mappings that are used in the visualisation. This consideration is similar to the way that infoVis uses the term aesthetic.
Context
Describe how the visualisation be available to the audience. How they will access the visualisation, and how does that relate to their context.
Communication
Describe the kind of boundary object that is being used to communicate between the visualisation collaboration (primary researcher and creative practitioner) and the audience.
Reactions
Describe how the audience is supposed to feel. What their reactions will be; not just the goal (above), but emotions and feelings you want to provoke. This consideration is used in a similar way that user personas have quotes that describe the persona’s attitude [11].
NEUVis considerations: Attributes, Relevance and Interactions User experience design defines
considerations as attributes, desires and behaviours of the users, similarly, there is a group of consid- erations that NEUVis needs to incorporate into their thinking. The data requires consideration of its
attributes, or metadata, relevance to the user and interactions with the user. The interactions consideration
does not suggest that all NEUVis require interactivity, instead, it refers to the design elements that act as a point of contact between the user and the data. To summarise: the NEUVis Data-Visualisation Schematic can be described as a tool that acts as a shorthand for the attributes, relevance and interactions of NEUVis.