ANALYZING USER INTERACTION LOGS OF AN EDUCATIONAL VISUALIZATION SYSTEM TO UNDERSTAND HOW STUDENTS GENERATE INSIGHTS

Department of Computer Science and EngineeringVisual analytics systems have been becoming popular in many domains. Recently, a visual analytical tool, VAiRoma is designed in educational domain to support students learn the history class. However, how users are interacting with such systems is still not known enough. In an educational domain, it is important to know how users are gaining insights. It may give us an opportunity to understand the user???s learning style, so that we can design better visualization tools in the future. In this thesis, I will analyze the interaction logs of an educational visualization system, VAiRoma, in order to explore how users generating insights via the system. Based on the results, users tried more explorative interactions at the initial stages of their insight generation path. In the middle of the path, users mostly read some textual information. Toward the end, they attempted to show their understandings from what they learnt by creating an annotation. There is also a cyclic behavior of an insight generation path. In 38% of cases, during the annotation creation process, the users cancelled to ???create an annotation??? and went back to read some textual information.ope

Insight provenance for spatiotemporal visual analytics: Theory, review, and guidelines

Research on provenance, which focuses on different ways to describe and record the history of changes and advances made throughout an analysis process, is an integral part of visual analytics. This paper focuses on providing the provenance of insight and rationale through visualizations while emphasizing, first, that this entails a profound understanding of human cognition and reasoning and that, second, the special nature of spatiotemporal data needs to be acknowledged in this process. A recently proposed human reasoning framework for spatiotemporal analysis, and four guidelines for the creation of visualizations that provide the provenance of insight and rationale published in relation to that framework, work as a starting point for this paper. While these guidelines are quite abstract, this paper set out to create a set of more concrete guidelines. On the basis of a review of available provenance solutions, this paper identifies a set of key features that are of relevance when providing the provenance of insight and rationale and, on the basis of these features, produces a new set of complementary guidelines that are more practically oriented than the original ones. Together, these two sets of guidelines provide both a theoretical and practical approach to the problem of providing the provenance of insight and rationale. Providing these kinds of guidelines represents a new approach in provenance research

Implementação do método de gestão à vista, no processo de tomada de decisão, no âmbito da gestão do Restaurante Chelsea Pizza & Pasta - estudo de caso do grupo Chelsea

Este trabalho tem por objetivo a implementação do método de gestão à vista (GV), como mecanismo facilitador da tomada de decisão dos gestores, bem como ampliação da percepção dos colaboradores no local de trabalho. Face ao mencionado anteriormente, foi necessário utilizar ferramentas para avaliar, analisar e acompanhar a resolução de problemas, seguindo etapas e definindo uma sequência lógica. Para avaliar os diferentes processos do restaurante objeto de estudo utilizou-se o método SQCDM (Segurança, Qualidade, Custos, Eficiência, Pessoal). Em seguida, para analisar os principais problemas encontrados foi utilizado o método 5W2H (What? Who? Where? When? Why?; How? How much?). Com o intuito de mapear e descrever as etapas dos processos problemáticos, recorreu-se a fluxogramas. Para investigação dos processos, dando continuidade, utilizou-se o método PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Action) para acompanhar a evolução das ações propostas. Em seguida, obtiveram-se dados para serem expostos no painel de GV. Este passo foi possível através da extração de informações da base de dados SQLITE (utilizada pelo restaurante), para que fosse realizado o input na base de dados criada. Estes dados foram extraídos durante oito meses (de jun/18 a jan/19), com o intuito de gerar informações. Através destes métodos foi possível evidenciar falhas, analisá-las, propor soluções e implementá-las. Também foram implementados métodos de verificação para que não voltem a ocorrer os mesmos problemas. O desenvolvimento e implementação da GV facilita a agilização da divulgação de informações dentro da empresa, principalmente quanto às metas de desempenho especificadas, além de permitir um feedback, em períodos de tempo adequados e flexíveis, dos resultados das atividades de produção para a gestão e para os funcionários. As atitudes e comportamentos das pessoas podem ser influenciadas pela comunicação. A essência de mudá-los está em ganhar aceitação através da exibição direta e clara dos resultados A comunicação visual providencia uma ferramenta para que os funcionários focalizem os propósitos comuns, reforçando as práticas existentes. É prática de ‘organizações de nível mundial’ pois é parte do processo de gestão das mesmas. O projeto foi realizado no Restaurante Chelsea Pizza & Pasta em Faro (Algarve). A implementação da GV na empresa proporcionou uma maior consciencialização nos funcionários, pois os resultados das suas atividades estavam dispostos a todos.This work aims to implement the visual management method (VM), as a mechanism to facilitate decision-making by managers, as well as increase the perception of employees in the workplace. In view of the above, it was necessary to use tools to assess, analyze and monitor the resolution of problems, following the steps and defining a logical sequence. To evaluate the different processes of the restaurant case, the SQCDM method (Safety, Quality, Costs, Efficiency, Personnel) was used. Then, to analyze the main problems found, the 5W2H method was further used (What? Who? Where? When? Why?; How? How much?). In order to map and describe the stages of problematic processes, flowcharts were used. To investigate the processes, it was used the PDCA method (Plan, Do, Check, Action) to monitor the evolution of the proposed actions. Then, data were obtained to be displayed on the VM panel. This step was made possible by extracting information from the SQLITE database (used by the restaurant), so that the entries could be performed in the database. These data were extracted for eight months (from Jun/18 to Jan/19), in order to generate information. Through these methods it is possible to highlight failures, analyze them, propose solutions, and implement them. Verification methods have also been implemented so that the same problems do not recur. The development and implementation of VM facilitates the dissemination of information within the company, especially regarding specified performance targets, in addition to allowing feedback, in adequate and flexible periods of time, on the results of production activities for management and for employees. People’s attitudes and behavior can be influenced by communication. The essence of changing them is gaining acceptance through the direct and clear display of results. Visual communication provides a tool for employees to focus on common purposes while reinforcing existing practices. It is a practice of ‘world-class organizations’ as it is part of their management process. This project was carried out at the Chelsea Pizza & Pasta Restaurant in Faro (Algarve). The implementation of VM in the company provided greater awareness among employees, as the results of their activities are available to everyone

Understanding and Supporting Trade-offs in the Design of Visualizations for Communication.

A shift in the availability of usable tools and public data has prompted mass manufacturing of information visualizations to communicate data insights to broad audiences. Despite available software, professional and novice creators of visualizations that are intended to communicate data insights to broad audiences may struggle to balance conflicting considerations in design. Studying professional practice suggests that expert visualization designers and analysts negotiate difficult design trade-offs in creating customized visualizations, many of which involve deciding how and how much data to present given a priori design goals. This dissertation presents three studies that demonstrate how studying expert visual design and data modeling practice can advance visualization design tools. Insights from these formative studies inform the development of specific frameworks and algorithms. The first study addresses the often ignored, persuasive dimension of narrative visualizations. The framework I propose characterizes the persuasive dimension of visualization design by providing empirical evidence of several classes of rhetorical design strategies that trade-off comprehensive, unbiased data presentation goals with intentions to persuade users toward intended interpretations. The rhetorical visualization framework highlights a second trade-off: the act of dividing and sequencing information from a multivariate data set in separate visualizations for ordered presentation. I contribute initial evidence of ordering principles that designers apply to ease comprehension and support storytelling goals with a visualization presentation. The principles are used in developing a novel algorithmic approach to supporting designers of visualizations in making decisions related to visualization presentation order and structuring, highlighting the importance of optimizing for both local or “single visualization” design in tandem with global “sequence” design. The final design trade-off concerns how to convey uncertainty to end-users in order to support accurate conclusions despite diverse educational backgrounds. I demonstrate how non-statistician end-users can produce more cautious and at times more accurate estimates of the reliability of data patterns through the use of a comparative sample plots method motivated by statistical resampling approaches to modeling uncertainty. Taken together, my results deepen understanding of the act of designing visualizations for potentially diverse online audiences, and provide tools to support more effective design.PHDInformationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107170/1/jhullman_1.pd

Toward effective insight management in visual analytics systems

Although significant progress has been made toward effective in-sight discovery in visual sense making approaches, there is a lack of effective and efficient approaches to manage the large amounts of insights discovered. In this paper, we propose a systematic ap-proach to leverage this problem around the concept of facts. Facts refer to patterns, relationships, or anomalies extracted from data un-der analysis. They are the direct products of visual exploration and permit construction of insights together with user’s mental model and evaluation. Different from the mental model, the type of facts that can be discovered from data is predictable and application-independent. Thus it is possible to develop a general Fact Manage-ment Framework (FMF) to allow visualization users to effectively and efficiently annotate, browse, retrieve, associate, and exchange facts. Since facts are essential components of insights, it will be feasible to extend FMF to effective insight management in a variety of visual analytics approaches. Toward this goal, we first construct a fact taxonomy that categorizes various facts in multidimensional data and captures their essential attributes through extensive litera-ture survey and user studies. We then propose a conceptual frame-work of fact management based upon this fact taxonomy. A con-crete scenario of visual sense making on real data sets illustrates how this FMF will work

Cognitive Foundations for Visual Analytics

In this report, we provide an overview of scientific/technical literature on information visualization and VA. Topics discussed include an update and overview of the extensive literature search conducted for this study, the nature and purpose of the field, major research thrusts, and scientific foundations. We review methodologies for evaluating and measuring the impact of VA technologies as well as taxonomies that have been proposed for various purposes to support the VA community. A cognitive science perspective underlies each of these discussions

Analítica visual en eLearning

[ES] La docencia universitaria ha experimentado cambios espectaculares en los últimos años debido al impacto de la tecnología en diferentes actividades cotidianas. El eLearning (o aprendizaje electrónico) y el bLearning (Blended Learning o aprendizaje mixto) nacieron gracias a este fenómeno, ya fuera como alternativa o complemento a la enseñanza tradicional. Esto ha producido cambios de paradigma en los últimos años en la docencia universitaria donde muchos profesores se han apoyado o han sustituido las clases presenciales de la enseñanza tradicional, entendiendo la enseñanza tradicional como cara a cara (del inglés Face to Face, F2F) por el aula virtual. La Web 2.0 ha abierto nuevas posibilidades, que incluyen numerosas formas de aprendizaje y colaboración entre estudiantes y profesores. Por ello, ha surgido la necesidad, por parte de los educadores, de adoptar diferentes estrategias para obtener información sobre el rendimiento de sus estudiantes, así como plantear nuevas formas de evaluación basadas en el análisis de información educativa, que sean capaces de medir y cuantificar la cantidad de trabajo, así como el número y la calidad de las habilidades que han adquirido. Tales estrategias de comunicación requieren de nuevos métodos analíticos que hagan posible comprender y analizar la propia plataforma y el aprendizaje. Estas consideraciones arrojan nueva luz sobre la evaluación de los estudiantes, que ya no puede basarse únicamente en los resultados de los exámenes finales convencionales, sino en un proceso educativo integral que considere y evalúe otras competencias más allá de las académicas. La disponibilidad y facilidad de uso de los recursos web ha permitido el uso extendido de los Learning Management Systems, o plataformas de eLearning. Sin embargo, los educadores que usan estos entornos se encuentran con graves limitaciones a la hora de evaluar las actividades de los estudiantes, de discriminar sus comportamientos online y de evaluar la propia plataforma y la utilidad de esta. Por ello, es necesario encontrar y desarrollar técnicas novedosas para obtener información sobre las pautas de aprendizaje y comportamiento de los estudiantes en un entorno electrónico. En esta tesis doctoral se propone un modelo de visualización analítica en eLearning como base para construir una estrategia de seguimiento y evaluación de la información que proporciona, no solo a los profesores, sino también a gestores académicos y estudiantes, información necesaria para entender el proceso de aprendizaje de los estudiantes en una plataforma de eLearning, que sirva de guía para el alumnado y que proporcione métricas para los gestores sobre la plataforma y el desempeño, además de tomarse como base para desarrollo de futuros sistemas de analítica visual en eLearning. El modelo proporciona los elementos para crear un sistema de analítica visual en eLearning encaminado a perfeccionar el proceso de enseñanza/aprendizaje. Este sistema se ha diseñado mediante una arquitectura constituida por distintas capas. La capa inferior está sustentada en un conjunto de servicios web que permiten la extracción de los datos a analizar del servidor. La siguiente capa, contiene la lógica de pre-procesamiento,estandarización y análisis de los datos. Por último, una tercera capa, en la que se realiza el proceso de analítica visual, que permite al profesor, estudiante o gestor académico llevar a cabo un análisis más exhaustivo, completo e interactivo. Con la finalidad de poner en práctica y realizar una prueba de los alcances de este sistema, se ha desarrollado un prototipo plenamente funcional del mismo. El desarrollo del prototipo se realizó por medio de un conjunto de iteraciones de investigación-acción para la mejora del alcance de las capacidades de análisis del sistema y de la usabilidad del prototipo de visualización analítica visual en eLearning, con el objetivo último de soportar el proceso de aprendizaje, el rendimiento académico y, a su vez, y como ya se mencionó, estas aplicaciones al tomarse como base para desarrollo de futuros sistemas de analítica visual en eLearning. Se utiliza como fuente de datos el sistema de gestión de aprendizaje Moodle. Los resultados obtenidos se complementaron y probaron con un estudio de los patrones de uso de las plataformas de eLearning en dos universidades con distintos contextos pedagógicos y sociales: la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid y la Universidad de Salamanca. Esta valiosa experiencia produjo un caudal de nueva información y conocimiento y, por tanto, una importante fuente de realimentación que han contribuido a la mejora notable de las capacidades de análisis que ofrece la plataforma y cubre adecuadamente las necesidades y funcionalidades que se requieren en el modelo propuesto y descrito en esta Tesis Doctoral