Browsing by Author "Hinrichs, Uta"
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Item Open Access The Bohemian Bookshelf Supporting Serendipitous Discoveries through Visualization(2011-08-17T21:23:21Z) Thudt, Alice; Hinrichs, Uta; Carpendale, SheelaghSerendipity, a trigger of exciting discoveries when we least expect it, is currently being discussed as an often neglected but still important factor in information seeking processes, research, and ideation. In this paper we explore serendipity as an information visualization goal. In particular, we introduce the Bohemian Bookshelf visualization that aims to support serendipitous exploration of digital book collections. The Bohemian Bookshelf consists of five interlinked visualizations, each representing a unique (over)view of the collection. It facilitates serendipitous discoveries by (1) offering multiple access points by providing visualizations of different perspectives on the book collection, (2) enticing curiosity through abstract, metaphorical, and visually distinct representations of the collection, (3) highlighting alternate adjacencies between books, (4) providing multiple pathways for exploring the data collection in a flexible way, (5) supporting immediate previews of books, and (6) enabling a playful approach to information exploration. Our design goals and their exploration through the Bohemian Bookshelf visualization opens up a discussion on how to promote serendipity through information visualization.Item Metadata only The Bohemian Bookshelf: Supporting Serendipitous Book Discoveries through Information Visualization(ACM, 2012) Thudt, Alice; Hinrichs, Uta; Carpendale, SheelaghSerendipity, a trigger of exciting yet unexpected discoveries, is an important but comparatively neglected factor in information seeking, research, and ideation. We suggest that serendipity can be facilitated through visualization. To explore this, we introduce the Bohemian Bookshelf, which aims to support serendipitous discoveries in the context of digital book collections. The Bohemian Bookshelf consists of five interlinked visualizations each offering a unique overview of the collection. It aims at encouraging serendipity by (1) offering multiple visual access points to the collection, (2) highlighting adjacencies between books, (3) providing flexible visual pathways for exploring the collection, (4) enticing curiosity through abstract, metaphorical, and visually distinct representations of books, and (5) enabling a playful approach to information exploration. A deployment at a library revealed that visitors embraced this approach of utilizing visualization to support open-ended explorations and serendipitous discoveries. This encourages future explorations into promoting serendipity through information visualization.Item Open Access BubbleType: Enabling Text Entry within a Walk-Up Tabletop Installation(2008) Hinrichs, Uta; Schmidt, Holly; Isenberg, Tobias; Hancock, Mark; Carpendale, SheelaghWe address the issue of enabling text entry for walk-up-and-use interactive tabletop displays located in public spaces. Public tabletop installations are characterized by a diverse target user group, multiperson interaction, and the need for high approachability and intuitiveness. We first define the design constraints of text-entry methods for public tabletop installations such as clear affordances, audience expertise, support of direct-touch interaction, visual appearance, space requirements, multi-user support, and technical simplicity. We then describe an iterative design process that was informed by these constraints and led to the development of two stylus keyboard prototypes—BubbleQWERTY and BubbleCIRCLE—for use in interactive public tabletop installations.Item Metadata only Digital Tables for Collaborative Information Exploration(Springer, 2010) Isenberg, Petra; Hinrichs, Uta; Hancock, Mark; Carpendale, SheelaghThere is great potential for digital tabletop displays to be integrated in tomorrow’s work and learning environments, in which the exploration of information is a common task. In this chapter, we describe the stream of research that focuses on digital tabletop collaborative visualization environments. We focus on two types of interfaces: those for information exploration and data analysis in the context of workplaces, and those for more casual information exploration in public settings such as museums.Item Metadata only Gestures in the Wild: Studying Multi-Touch GestureSequences on Interactive Tabletop Exhibits(2011) Hinrichs, Uta; Carpendale, SheelaghIn this paper we describe our findings from a field study that was conducted at the Vancouver Aquarium to investigate how visitors interact with a large interactive table exhibit using multi-touch gestures. Our findings show that the choice and use of multi-touch gestures are influenced not only by general preferences for certain gestures but also by the interaction context and social context they occur in. We found that gestures are not executed in isolation but linked into sequences where previous gestures influence the formation of subsequent gestures. Furthermore, gestures were used beyond the manipulation of media items to support social encounters around the tabletop exhibit. Our findings indicate the importance of versatile many-to-one mappings between gestures and their actions that, other than one-to-one mappings, can support fluid transitions between gestures as part of sequences and facilitate social information exploration.Item Metadata only Guest Editor's Introduction: Interactive Public Displays(IEEE, 2013) Hinrichs, Uta; Carpendale, Sheelagh; Valkanova, Nina; Kuikkaniemi, Kai; Jacucci, Giulio; Moere, Andrew VandePublic-display installations can range from large-scale media facades that are embedded in architectural structures and that people can interact with only from a distance, to direct-touch interactive kiosks that provide information of local interest. These different scenarios impose different challenges and research questions regarding the design of interfaces and interaction techniques. The articles in this special issue present snapshots of several ways that researchers are addressing these challenges.Item Open Access Interactive Tables in the Wild - Visitor Experiences with Multi-Touch Tables in the Arctic Exhibit at the Vancouver Aquarium(2010-09-21T20:40:41Z) Hinrichs, Uta; Carpendale, SheelaghThis report describes and discusses the findings from a field study that was conducted at the Vancouver Aquarium to investigate how visitors explore and experience large horizontal multi-touch tables as part of public exhibition spaces. The study investigated visitors’ use of two different tabletop applications—the Collection Viewer and the Arctic Choices table—that are part of the Canada’s Arctic exhibition at the Vancouver Aquarium. Our findings show that both tabletop exhibits enhanced the exhibition in different ways. The Collection Viewer table evoked visitors curiosity by presenting visually interesting information and engaged by supporting lightweight, playful, and open-ended information exploration. The Arctic Choices table enabled visitors to explore a variety of information about environmental and political changes within the Arctic in depth by providing detailed data visualizations. The application triggered a lot of insightful discussions among visitors. Our study findings include a discussion of the factors that attracted visitors’ attention and triggered interaction with both tabletop exhibits, the character and duration of information exploration, general exploration strategies, and factors that triggered social and collaborative information exploration. We also discuss usability issues of both tabletop applications alongside possible solutions.Item Open Access Interface Currents: Supporting Co-Located Collaborative Work on Tabletop Displays(2005-03-08) Hinrichs, Uta; Carpendale, Sheelagh; Scott, Stacey D.Large screen vertical and horizontal displays provide new opportunities to support individual and collaborative activities especially in terms of creativity and design tasks. The size of these displays introduces several unique opportunities such as co-located collaboration but at the same time issues for interface designers such as: potential difficulties of reaching workspace items far away from one s current position at the display, and the tendency of people to walk around when using a wall display or sit in various positions around a tabletop display. Thus, in contrast to traditional interfaces, large display interfaces need to support access to workspace items from a variety of positions at the display. In order to improve access to workspace items, providing better support for obtaining and sharing items and for mobility at the display which can be very important to improve creative processes, we propose a novel interaction metaphor, the so-called Interface Current, that allows interface components to play a more active role in the workspace activity.Item Metadata only Large Display Information Visualization in Public Spaces(2010) Hinrichs, UtaItem Metadata only Large Displays in Urban Life: from Exhibition Halls to Media Facades(2011) Hinrichs, Uta; Valkanova, Nina; Kuikkaniemi, Kai; Jacucci, Giulio; Carpendale, Sheelagh; Arroyo, ErnestoItem Metadata only Let’s All Go to the Lunch Table: Performance in Interactive Semi-Public Spaces.(2011) Haber, Jonathan; Nacenta, Miguel; Hinrichs, Uta; Dork, Marian; Dautriche, Remy; Carpendale, SheelaghItem Metadata only The LunchTable: a multi-user, multi-display system for information sharing in casual group interactions(ACM, 2012) Nacenta, Miguel A.; Jakobsen, Mikkel R.; Dautriche, Remy; Hinrichs, Uta; Dork, Marian; Haber, Jonathan; Carpendale, SheelaghPeople often use mobile devices to access information during conversations in casual settings, but mobile devices are not well suited for interaction in groups. Large situated displays promise to better support access to and sharing of information in casual conversations. This paper presents the LunchTable, a multi-user system based on semi-public displays that supports such casual group interactions around a lunch table. We describe our design goals and the resulting system, as well as a weeklong study of the interaction with the system in the lunch space of a research lab. Our results show substantial use of the LunchTable for sharing visual information such as online maps and videos that are otherwise difficult to share in conversations. Also, equal simultaneous access from several users does not seem critical in casual group interactions.Item Open Access Open-Ended Explorations in Exhibition Spaces: A Case for Information Visualization and Large Direct-Touch Displays(2013-01-08) Hinrichs, Uta; Carpendale, SheelaghLarge interactive displays have become more commonplace in museums, libraries, and art galleries. Their interactive capabilities and size offer opportunities to present information to visitors in an engaging yet informative way. However, the characteristics of exhibition spaces, such as diverse audiences, brief interaction times, and self-guided exploration styles present challenges to the design of such exhibits. In this doctoral thesis, I present four case studies that investigate how open-ended exploration can be promoted using visualization-based large display exhibits, how shared interactions with such exhibits can be characterized, and how multi-touch capabilities influence interactions in exhibition spaces. Case Study I, memory [en]code, touches upon the concepts of serendipity and participation as different ways to promote engagement with information via direct-touch displays. Case Study II, EMDialog, investigates how museum visitors experience interactive information visualizations as part of an exhibition of traditional paintings. Case Study III, the Bohemian Bookshelf, explores how serendipitous discoveries can be promoted by combining information visualization with large display exhibits in the context of library book collections. In Case Study IV, I investigate visitor interactions with two multi-touch tabletop exhibits. I focus on how the interface design influences individual and collaborative exploration strategies, and I explore the role of multi-touch gestures as part in open-ended exploration. My research contributes to the areas of information visualization, museum studies, and interactive surfaces on a design and empirical level. I introduce the idea of promoting open-ended exploration in exhibition spaces by combining information visualization with large display technology. I provide a new perspective on serendipity, as one important aspect of open-ended information exploration. I show how visitors experience and interact with large display exhibits. In particular, I contribute a detailed characterization of collaborative activities that evolve around visualization-based exhibits. Furthermore, I provide insights on how multi-touch gestures are applied around large display exhibits. On a methodological level, my field studies expand on qualitative methods in the context of real-world study settings. The four case studies as a whole show how visitor expectations toward large display exhibits have changed across the years and provide a glimpse into future research directions.Item Open Access Visualizations for Personal Reflection and Expression(2018-04-18) Thudt, Alice; Carpendale, Sheelagh; Wylant, Barry; Hinrichs, Uta; Willett, WesleyResearch on visualizations of our growing personal data collections thus far has been predominantly geared towards behaviour-change. However, this focus may have overlooked opportunities for other meaningful ways to relate to personal data. People engage in a variety of activities to foster self-understanding, identity development, and strengthen their relationships. Such practices include writing diaries, connecting to others through personal stories, and collecting reminders of important accomplishments, events, and relationships. These forms of self-reflection, reminiscing, and self-expression can help us experience our lives as meaningful. The potential of visualizations for ``amplifying cognition'' and communicating data make them a promising means for supporting a wider range of self-reflective and expressive practices that have so far been little explored in visualization. In this thesis, I study the potential of visualizations of personal data for self-reflection and expression. As part of this research, I derive conceptual considerations for personal visualizations from research on everyday narrative practices, autobiographical memory, and the use of mementos. By relating and applying findings from these areas to visualization, I contribute design considerations for visualizations that support personal expression and reflection. I further explore example visualization approaches that address these design considerations. I contribute a visualization technique for reminiscing, and a system that allows people to create, reflect on, and share visualization mementos. I further describe a paradigm and construction kit that allow people without prior visualization, design or programming skills to construct personal visualizations. Finally, I present findings from qualitative studies that explore how individuals create and use visualizations for personal reflection and expression. The first investigation explores techniques for conveying subjective perspectives based on an analysis of narrative visualizations. The second study focuses on people's experiences with creating visualization mementos. The last study examines how people construct and reflect on personal visualizations in their domestic environment. These investigations allow me to validate and refine the proposed design considerations, evaluate the developed visualization approaches and point to interesting directions for future research. I hope that this research will contribute to the development of visualizations that encourage individual meaning-making with personal data by supporting diverse reflective and expressive practices.