Democratic Replay: Enhancing TV Election Debates with Interactive Visualisations

This paper presents an online platform for enhancing televised election debates with interactive visualisations. Election debates are one of the highlights of election campaigns worldwide. They are also often criticised as appearing scripted, rehearsed, detached from much of the electorate, and at times too complex. Democratic Replay enhances videos of election debates with a collection of interactive tools aimed at providing a replay experience centred around citizens' needs. We present the system requirements, design and implementation, and report on an evaluation based on the ITV Leaders' Debate from the 2015 UK General Election campaign

VocabulARy : learning vocabulary in AR supported by keyword visualizations

This research was supported by European Commission through the InnoRenew CoE project (Grant Agreement 739574) under the Horizon2020 Widespread-Teaming program and the Republic of Slovenia (investment funding of the Republic of Slovenia and the European Union of the European Regional Development Fund). We also acknowledge support from the Slovenian research agency ARRS (program no. BI-DE/20-21-002, P1-0383, J1-9186, J1-1715, J5-1796, and J1-1692).Learning vocabulary in a primary or secondary language is enhanced when we encounter words in context. This context can be afforded by the place or activity we are engaged with. Existing learning environments include formal learning, mnemonics, flashcards, use of a dictionary or thesaurus, all leading to practice with new words in context. In this work, we propose an enhancement to the language learning process by providing the user with words and learning tools in context, with VocabulARy. VocabulARy visually annotates objects in AR, in the user's surroundings, with the corresponding English (first language) and Japanese (second language) words to enhance the language learning process. In addition to the written and audio description of each word, we also present the user with a keyword and its visualisation to enhance memory retention. We evaluate our prototype by comparing it to an alternate AR system that does not show an additional visualisation of the keyword, and, also, we compare it to two non-AR systems on a tablet, one with and one without visualising the keyword. Our results indicate that AR outperforms the tablet system regarding immediate recall, mental effort and task-completion time. Additionally, the visualisation approach scored significantly higher than showing only the written keyword with respect to immediate and delayed recall and learning efficiency, mental effort and task-completion time.PostprintPeer reviewe

Augmented Reality in Astrophysics

Augmented Reality consists of merging live images with virtual layers of information. The rapid growth in the popularity of smartphones and tablets over recent years has provided a large base of potential users of Augmented Reality technology, and virtual layers of information can now be attached to a wide variety of physical objects. In this article, we explore the potential of Augmented Reality for astrophysical research with two distinct experiments: (1) Augmented Posters and (2) Augmented Articles. We demonstrate that the emerging technology of Augmented Reality can already be used and implemented without expert knowledge using currently available apps. Our experiments highlight the potential of Augmented Reality to improve the communication of scientific results in the field of astrophysics. We also present feedback gathered from the Australian astrophysics community that reveals evidence of some interest in this technology by astronomers who experimented with Augmented Posters. In addition, we discuss possible future trends for Augmented Reality applications in astrophysics, and explore the current limitations associated with the technology. This Augmented Article, the first of its kind, is designed to allow the reader to directly experiment with this technology.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap&SS. The final publication will be available at link.springer.co

Human-Centered Approaches in Geovisualization Design: Investigating Multiple Methods Through a Long-Term Case Study

Working with three domain specialists we investigate human-centered approaches to geovisualization following an ISO13407 taxonomy covering context of use, requirements and early stages of design. Our case study, undertaken over three years, draws attention to repeating trends: that generic approaches fail to elicit adequate requirements for geovis application design; that the use of real data is key to understanding needs and possibilities; that trust and knowledge must be built and developed with collaborators. These processes take time but modified human-centred approaches can be effective. A scenario developed through contextual inquiry but supplemented with domain data and graphics is useful to geovis designers. Wireframe, paper and digital prototypes enable successful communication between specialist and geovis domains when incorporating real and interesting data, prompting exploratory behaviour and eliciting previously unconsidered requirements. Paper prototypes are particularly successful at eliciting suggestions, especially for novel visualization. Enabling specialists to explore their data freely with a digital prototype is as effective as using a structured task protocol and is easier to administer. Autoethnography has potential for framing the design process. We conclude that a common understanding of context of use, domain data and visualization possibilities are essential to successful geovis design and develop as this progresses. HC approaches can make a significant contribution here. However, modified approaches, applied with flexibility, are most promising. We advise early, collaborative engagement with data – through simple, transient visual artefacts supported by data sketches and existing designs – before moving to successively more sophisticated data wireframes and data prototypes

Abstract Data Visualisation in Mobile VR Platforms

Data visualisation, as a key tool in data understanding, is widely used in science and everyday life. In order data visualisation to be effective, perceptual factors and the characteristics of the display interface play a crucial role. Virtual Reality is nowadays accepted as a valid medium for scientific visualisation, because of its inherent characteristics of real-world emulation and intuitive interaction. However, the use of VR in abstract data visualisation is still limited. In this research, I investigate the use and suitability of mobile phone-based Virtual Reality as a medium for abstract data visualisation. I develop a prototype VR Android application and visualise data using the Scatterplot and Parallel Coordinates methods. After that, I conduct a user study to compare the effectiveness of the mobile VR application compared to a similar screen-based one by implementing some data exploration scenarios. The study results, while not being statistically significant, show improved accuracy and speed in the mobile VR visualisation application. The main conclusions are two-fold: Virtual Reality is beneficial for abstract data visualisation, even in the case of limited processing power and display resolution. Mobile VR, an affordable alternative to expensive desktop VR set-ups can be utilized as a data visualisation platform

NEUVis: Comparing Affective and Effective Visualisation

Data visualisations are useful for providing insight from complex scientific data. However, even with visualisation, scientific research is difficult for non-scientists to comprehend. When developed by designers in collaboration with scientists, data visualisation can be used to articulate scientific data in a way that non-experts can understand. Creating human-centred visualisations is a unique challenge, and there are no frameworks to support their design. In response, this thesis presents a practice-led study investigating design methods that can be used to develop Non-Expert User Visualisations (NEUVis), data visualisations for a general public, and the response that people have to different kinds of NEUVis. For this research, two groups of ten users participated in quantitative studies, informed by Yvonna Lincoln and Egon Guba’s method of Naturalistic Inquiry, which asked non-scientists to express their cognitive and emotional response to NEUVis using different media. The three different types of visualisations were infographics, 3D animations and an interactive installation. The installation used in the study, entitled 18S rDNA, was developed and evaluated as part of this research using John Zimmerman’s Research Through Design methodology. 18S rDNA embodies the knowledge and design methods that were developed for this research, and provided an opportunity for explication of the entire NEUVis design process. The research findings indicate that developing visualisations for the non-expert audience requires a new process, different to the way scientists visualise data. The result of this research describes how creative practitioners collaborate with primary researchers and presents a new human-centred design thinking model for NEUVis. This model includes two design tools. The first tool helps designers merge user needs with data they wish to visualise. The second tool helps designers take that merged information and begin an iterative, user-centred design process

Augmented paper maps : design of POI markers and effects on group navigation

One popular and wide use of augmented-reality based application, is the projection of points of interests on top of the phones' camera view. In this paper we discuss the implementation of an AR application that acts as a magic lens over printed maps, overlaying POIs and routes. This method expands the information space available to members of groups during navigation, partially mitigating the issue of several group members trying to share a small screen device. We examine two aspects critical to the use of augmented paper maps: (a) Appropriate visualisation of POIs to facilitate selection and (b) augmentation of paper maps with route instructions for use in group situations. In this paper, we evaluate POI visualisation in a lab setting and augmented paper map navigation with groups of real tourists in a preliminary field trial. Our work complements existing literature introducing self-reporting questionnaires to measure affective state and user experience during navigation