Evaluating the relationship between user interaction and financial visual analysis

It has been widely accepted that interactive visualization techniques enable users to more effectively form hypotheses and identify areas for more detailed investigation. There have been numerous empirical user studies testing the effectiveness of specific visual analytical tools. However, there has been limited effort in connecting a user’s interaction with his reasoning for the purpose of extracting the relationship between the two. In this paper, we present an approach for capturing and analyzing user interactions in a financial visual analytical tool and describe an exploratory user study that examines these interaction strategies. To achieve this goal, we created two visual tools to analyze raw interaction data captured during the user session. The results of this study demonstrate one possible strategy for understanding the relationship between interaction and reasoning both operationally and strategically. Index Terms: H.5.2 [Information Interfaces And Presentatio

Architectural User Interface:: Towards a Performative Architecture

This is our primary question: with the inexorable advance of digital technologies along all fronts of human endeavor, whither architecture? We identify performance as the primary criterion to revealing a new paradigm for architecture. We do not delimit this definition to the role traditionally played by mechanical and quasi-mechanical technologies in the optimization of environmental control systems and building skins. Nor do we intend to ascribe to performance the interpretation narrowly defined by the emergence of digital gadgetry, primarily optical in methodology, which have nonetheless already radically altered the means by which we negotiate our environment, built and otherwise. Instead, we seek to engage a notion of performance that encompasses these definitions in a wider arc: one that seeks an understanding of a broad interface between architecture and technology, and one that attempts to solicit optimal collateral advantage from their respective strengths. From architecture, we affirm presence as its quintessential condition, its inalienable concreteness, with the necessarily contingent properties of Benjamin's ‘tactile appropriation'. And from technology, we recognize the emergence of models of interactivity and intelligence that allow for not only new possibilities for the inhabitation and manipulation of space, but for indications of a new definition of architecture itself

Next generation tools for genomic data generation, distribution, and visualization

BACKGROUND: With the rapidly falling cost and availability of high throughput sequencing and microarray technologies, the bottleneck for effectively using genomic analysis in the laboratory and clinic is shifting to one of effectively managing, analyzing, and sharing genomic data. RESULTS: Here we present three open-source, platform independent, software tools for generating, analyzing, distributing, and visualizing genomic data. These include a next generation sequencing/microarray LIMS and analysis project center (GNomEx); an application for annotating and programmatically distributing genomic data using the community vetted DAS/2 data exchange protocol (GenoPub); and a standalone Java Swing application (GWrap) that makes cutting edge command line analysis tools available to those who prefer graphical user interfaces. Both GNomEx and GenoPub use the rich client Flex/Flash web browser interface to interact with Java classes and a relational database on a remote server. Both employ a public-private user-group security model enabling controlled distribution of patient and unpublished data alongside public resources. As such, they function as genomic data repositories that can be accessed manually or programmatically through DAS/2-enabled client applications such as the Integrated Genome Browser. CONCLUSIONS: These tools have gained wide use in our core facilities, research laboratories and clinics and are freely available for non-profit use. See http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnomex/, http://sourceforge.net/projects/genoviz/, and http://sourceforge.net/projects/useq

Thinking interactively with visualization

Interaction is becoming an integral part of using visualization for analysis. When interaction is tightly and appropriately coupled with visualization, it can transform the visualization from display- ing static imagery to assisting comprehensive analysis of data at all scales. In this relationship, a deeper understanding of the role of interaction, its effects, and how visualization relates to interaction is necessary for designing systems in which the two components complement each other. This thesis approaches interaction in visualization from three different perspectives. First, it considers the cost of maintaining interaction in manipulating visualization of large datasets. Namely, large datasets often require a simplification process for the visualization to maintain interactivity, and this thesis examines how simplification affects the resulting visualization. Secondly, example interactive visual analytical systems are presented to demonstrate how interactivity could be applied in visualization. Specifically, four fully developed systems for four distinct problem domains are discussed to determine the common role of interactivity in these visualizations that make the systems successful. Lastly, this thesis presents evidence that interactions are important for analytical tasks using visualizations. Interaction logs of financial analysts using a visualization were collected, coded, and examined to determine the amount of analysis strategies contained within the interaction logs. The finding supports the benefits of high interactivity in analytical tasks when using a visualization. The example visualizations used to support these three perspectives are diverse in their goals and features. However, they all share similar design guidelines and visualization principles. Based on their characteristics, this thesis groups these visualizations into urban visualization, visual analytical systems, and interaction capturing and discusses them separately in terms of lessons learned and future directions

CONFIGURATION OF APPLICATION PERMISSIONS WITH CONTEXTUAL ACCESS CONTROL

Users are burdened with the task of configuring access control policies on many dif- ferent application platforms used by mobile devices and social network sites. Many of these platforms employ access control mechanisms to configure application per- missions before the application is first used and provide an all or nothing decision for the user. When application platforms provide fine grained control over decision making, many users exhibit behavior that indicates they desire more control over their application permissions. However, users who desire control over application permissions still struggle to properly configure them because they lack the context in which to make better decisions. In this dissertation, I attempt to address these problems by exploring decision making during the context of using mobile and social network applications. I hypothesize that users are able to better configure access control permissions as they interact with applications by supplying more contextual information than is available when the application is being installed. I also explore how logged access data generated by the application platform can provide users with more understanding of when their data is accessed. Finally, I examine the effects that this contextually improved application platform has on user decision making

Stereoscopic bimanual interaction for 3D visualization

Virtual Environments (VE) are being widely used in various research fields for several decades such as 3D visualization, education, training and games. VEs have the potential to enhance the visualization and act as a general medium for human-computer interaction (HCI). However, limited research has evaluated virtual reality (VR) display technologies, monocular and binocular depth cues, for human depth perception of volumetric (non-polygonal) datasets. In addition, a lack of standardization of three-dimensional (3D) user interfaces (UI) makes it challenging to interact with many VE systems. To address these issues, this dissertation focuses on evaluation of effects of stereoscopic and head-coupled displays on depth judgment of volumetric dataset. It also focuses on evaluation of a two-handed view manipulation techniques which support simultaneous 7 degree-of-freedom (DOF) navigation (x,y,z + yaw,pitch,roll + scale) in a multi-scale virtual environment (MSVE). Furthermore, this dissertation evaluates auto-adjustment of stereo view parameters techniques for stereoscopic fusion problems in a MSVE. Next, this dissertation presents a bimanual, hybrid user interface which combines traditional tracking devices with computer-vision based "natural" 3D inputs for multi-dimensional visualization in a semi-immersive desktop VR system. In conclusion, this dissertation provides a guideline for research design for evaluating UI and interaction techniques

QUANTIFYING THE PERSONAL CREATIVE EXPERIENCE: EVALUATION OF DIGITAL CREATIVITY SUPPORT TOOLS USING SELF-REPORT AND PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES

Creativity is understood intuitively, but it is not easily defined and therefore diffi- cult to measure. This makes it challenging to evaluate the ability of a digital tool to support the creative process. When evaluating creativity support tools (CSTs), it is critical to look beyond traditional time, error, and other productivity measurements that are commonly used in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) because these mea- sures do not capture all the relevant dimensions of creativity support. Unfortunately, there are no clear measures of success to quantify in regards to creativity support tools, and this lack of ‘convenient’ metrics is a real challenge to their evaluation. In this dissertation, I introduce two computational methodologies for evaluating creativity support tools, including: (1) the Creativity Support Index (CSI), which is a psychometrically developed and validated survey, designed for evaluating the ability of a tool to support the creative process of users, and (2) a novel sensor data approach to measuring ‘in-the-moment-creativity’ (ITMC), to detect moments when users experience high creativity using electroencephalography (EEG), activity metrics (e.g., keyboard/mouse logger and accelerometer data), and machine learning