Font attributes enrich knowledge maps and information retrieval: Skim formatting, proportional encoding, text stem and leaf plots, and multi-attribute labels

© 2016 The Author(s)Typography is overlooked in knowledge maps (KM) and information retrieval (IR), and some deficiencies in these systems can potentially be improved by encoding information into font attributes. A review of font use across domains is used to itemize font attributes and information visualization theory is used to characterize each attribute. Tasks associated with KM and IR, such as skimming, opinion analysis, character analysis, topic modelling and sentiment analysis can be aided through the use of novel representations using font attributes such as skim formatting, proportional encoding, textual stem and leaf plots and multi-attribute labels

Typographic sets: Labeled set elements with font attributes

We show that many different set visualization techniques can be extended with the addition of labeled elements using font attributes. Elements labeled with font attributes can: uniquely identify elements; encode membership in ten sets; use size to indicate proportions among set relations; can scale to thousands on clearly labeled elements; and use intuitive mappings to facilitate decoding. The approach can be applied to many different set visualization layouts, including Venn and Euler diagrams, graphs, mosaic plots and cartograms

Text in Visualization: Extending the Visualization Design Space

This thesis is a systematic exploration and expansion of the design space of data visualization specifically with regards to text. A critical analysis of text in data visualizations reveals gaps in existing frameworks and the use of text in practice. A cross-disciplinary review across fields such as typography, cartography and technical applications yields typographic techniques to encode data into text and provides the scope for the expanded design space. Mapping new attributes, techniques and considerations back to well understood visualization principles organizes the design space of text in visualization. This design space includes: 1) text as a primary data type literally encoded into alphanumeric glyphs, 2) typographic attributes, such as bold and italic, capable of encoding additional data onto literal text, 3) scope of mark, ranging from individual glyphs, syllables and words; to sentences, paragraphs and documents, and 4) layout of these text elements applicable most known visualization techniques and text specific techniques such as tables. This is the primary contribution of this thesis (Part A and B). Then, this design space is used to facilitate the design, implementation and evaluation of new types of visualization techniques, ranging from enhancements of existing techniques, such as, extending scatterplots and graphs with literal marks, stem & leaf plots with multivariate glyphs and broader scope, and microtext line charts; to new visualization techniques, such as, multivariate typographic thematic maps; text formatted to facilitate skimming; and proportionally encoding quantitative values in running text – all of which are new contributions to the field (Part C). Finally, a broad evaluation across the framework and the sample visualizations with cross-discipline expert critiques and a metrics based approach reveals some concerns and many opportunities pointing towards a breadth of future research work now possible with this new framework. (Part D and E)

Tasks and visual techniques for the exploration of temporal graph data

This thesis considers the tasks involved in exploratory analysis of temporal graph data, and the visual techniques which are able to support these tasks. There has been an enormous increase in the amount and availability of graph (network) data, and in particular, graph data that is changing over time. Understanding the mechanisms involved in temporal change in a graph is of interest to a wide range of disciplines. While the application domain may differ, many of the underlying questions regarding the properties of the graph and mechanism of change are the same.The research area of temporal graph visualisation seeks to address the challenges involved in visually representing change in a graph over time. While most graph visualisation tools focus on static networks, recent research has been directed toward the development of temporal visualisation systems. By representing data using computer-generated graphical forms, Information Visualisation techniques harness human perceptual capabilities to recognise patterns, spot anomalies and outliers, and find relationships within the data. Interacting with these graphical representations allow individuals to explore large datasets and gain further insightinto the relationships between different aspects of the data. Visual approaches are particularly relevant for Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA), where the person performing the analysis may be unfamiliar with the data set, and their goal is to make new discoveries and gain insight through its exploration. However, designing visual systems for EDA can be difficult, as the tasks which a person may wish to carry out during their analysis are not always known at outset. Identifying and understanding the tasks involved in such a process has given rise to a number of task taxonomies which seek to elucidate the tasks and structure them in a useful way.While task taxonomies for static graph analysis exist, no suitable temporal graph taxonomy has yet been developed. The first part of this thesis focusses on the development of such a taxonomy. Through the extension and instantiation of an existing formal task framework for general EDA, a task taxonomy and a task design space are developed specifically for exploration of temporal graph data. The resultant task framework is evaluated with respect to extant classifications and is shown to address a number of deficiencies in task coverage in existing works. Its usefulness in both the design and evaluation processes is also demonstrated.Much research currently surrounds the development of systems and techniques for visual exploration of temporal graphs, but little is known about how the different types of techniques relate to one another and which tasks they are able to support. The second part of this thesis focusses on the possibilities in this area: a design spaceof the possible visual encodings for temporal graph data is developed, and extant techniques are classified into this space, revealing potential combinations of encodings which have not yet been employed. These may prove interesting opportunities for further research and the development of novel techniques.The third part of this work addresses the need to understand the types of analysis the different visual techniques support, and indeed whether new techniques are required. The techniques which are able to support the different task dimensions are considered. This task-technique mapping reveals that visual exploration of temporalgraph data requires techniques not only from temporal graph visualisation, but also from static graph visualisation and comparison, and temporal visualisation. A number of tasks which are unsupported or less-well supported, which could prove interesting opportunities for future research, are identified.The taxonomies, design spaces, and mappings in this work bring order to the range of potential tasks of interest when exploring temporal graph data and the assortmentof techniques developed to visualise this type of data, and are designed to be of use in both the design and evaluation of temporal graph visualisation systems

Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe

The conference volume of the Bochumer Kolleg “Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe” outlines the thesis that religion is not a homogeneous cultural phenomenon, but a dense network of diachronically and synchronically differing traditions. ; Readership: All those interested in History of Religion and Religious Studies, Sociology, Cultural Studies and Theology, Asian, Middle East and Islamic Studies

Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe

The conference volume of the Bochumer Kolleg “Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe” outlines the thesis that religion is not a homogeneous cultural phenomenon, but a dense network of diachronically and synchronically differing traditions. ; Readership: All those interested in History of Religion and Religious Studies, Sociology, Cultural Studies and Theology, Asian, Middle East and Islamic Studies

Systematising glyph design for visualization

The digitalisation of information now affects most fields of human activity. From the social sciences to biology to physics, the volume, velocity, and variety of data exhibit exponential growth trends. With such rates of expansion, efforts to understand and make sense of datasets of such scale, how- ever driven and directed, progress only at an incremental pace. The challenges are significant. For instance, the ability to display an ever growing amount of data is physically and naturally bound by the dimensions of the average sized display. A synergistic interplay between statistical analysis and visualisation approaches outlines a path for significant advances in the field of data exploration. We can turn to statistics to provide principled guidance for prioritisation of information to display. Using statistical results, and combining knowledge from the cognitive sciences, visual techniques can be used to highlight salient data attributes. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the link between computer science, statistics, visualization, and the cognitive sciences, to define and develop more systematic approaches towards the design of glyphs. Glyphs represent the variables of multivariate data records by mapping those variables to one or more visual channels (e.g., colour, shape, and texture). They offer a unique, compact solution to the presentation of a large amount of multivariate information. However, composing a meaningful, interpretable, and learnable glyph can pose a number of problems. The first of these problems exist in the subjectivity involved in the process of data to visual channel mapping, and in the organisation of those visual channels to form the overall glyph. Our first contribution outlines a computational technique to help systematise many of these otherwise subjective elements of the glyph design process. For visual information compression, common patterns (motifs) in time series or graph data for example, may be replaced with more compact, visual representations. Glyph-based techniques can provide such representations that can help users find common patterns more quickly, and at the same time, bring attention to anomalous areas of the data. However, replacing any data with a glyph is not going to make tasks such as visual search easier. A key problem is the selection of semantically meaningful motifs with the potential to compress large amounts of information. A second contribution of this thesis is a computational process for systematic design of such glyph libraries and their subsequent glyphs. A further problem in the glyph design process is in their evaluation. Evaluation is typically a time-consuming, highly subjective process. Moreover, domain experts are not always plentiful, therefore obtaining statistically significant evaluation results is often difficult. A final contribution of this work is to investigate if there are areas of evaluation that can be performed computationally.</p