Analysis methods for collaborative models and activities

Abstract. A classification of analysis methods for CSCL systems is presented which uses as one dimension the distinction into summary analysis and structural analysis and as another distinction different types of raw data: either user actions or state descriptions. The Cool Modes environment for collaborative modeling enables us to explore the whole spectrum of analysis methods. Action logging is based on the MatchMaker communication server underlying Cool Modes. Example instances for several analysis methods have been implemented in the Cool Modes framework.

Towards an approach for analysing external representations created during sensemaking using generative grammar

During sensemaking, users often create external representations to help them make sense of what they know, and what they need to know. In doing so, they necessarily adopt or construct some form of representational language using the tools at hand. By describing such languages implicit in representations we believe that we are better able to describe and differentiate what users do and better able to describe and differentiate interfaces that might support them. Drawing on approaches to the analysis of language, and in particular, Mann and Thompson’s Rhetorical Structure Theory, we analyse the representations that users create to expose their underlying ‘visual grammar’. We do this in the context of a user study involving evidential reasoning. Participants were asked to address an adapted version of IEEE VAST 2011 mini challenge 3 (interpret a potential terrorist plot implicit in a set of news reports). We show how our approach enables the unpacking of the heterogeneous and embedded nature of user-generated representations and allows us to show how visual grammars evolve and become more complex over time in response to evolving sensemaking needs

Multiple headspace extraction for gas detection in ionic liquids

In this study multiple headspace extraction was used for the first time to measure the saturation concentration of carbon monoxide and oxygen in various ionic liquids (ILs). Many processes in ILs involve the reaction of gases so that the reactant solubility is not a mere characteristical parameter, but understanding the solubility of gases in ILs is required for assessing the feasibility of possible applications. Multiple headspace extraction has proofed to be a powerful tool to obtain solubilities in good accordance with literature data. The measured saturation concentration for carbon monoxide and oxygen in ILs based on rarely researched tetracyanoborates and other anions was in the range of 1.5-6.5 mmol/L. The great advantage of multiple headspace extraction is that it is a nonexpensive method that can be realised in most analytical laboratories by combination of a simple gas chromatograph and an eligible headspace injector