ST-Map:an Interactive Map for Discovering Spatial and Temporal Patterns in Bibliographic Data

Getting insight into the spatiotemporal distribution patterns of knowledge innovation is receiving increasing attention from policymakers and economic research organizations.Many studies use bibliometric data to analyze the popularity of certain research topics,well-adopted methodologies,influential authors,and the interrelationships among research disciplines.However,the visual exploration of the patterns of research topics with an emphasis on their spatial and temporal distribution remains challenging.This study combined a Space-Time Cube(STC)and a 3D glyph to represent the complex multivariate bibliographic data.We further implemented a visual design by developing an interactive interface.The effectiveness,understandability,and engagement of ST-Map are evaluated by seven experts in geovisualization.The results suggest that it is promising to use three-dimensional visualization to show the overview and on-demand details on a single screen.

乡镇企业信息需求的变化及发展趋势

Based on an investigation of the information demand of town and township enterprises,this paper compares the present investigation data with the previous ones,analyzes the changes and the development trend of their information demand,and puts forward some opinions and suggestions about how information organizations should provide information service for them according to their characteristics.

Architecture and Software Design for a Service Robot in an Elderly-Care Scenario

Systems for ambient assisted living(AAL) that integrate service robots with sensor networks and user monitoring can help elderly people with their daily activities, allowing them to stay in their homes and live active lives for as long as possible. In this paper, we outline the AAL system currently developed in the European project Robot-Era, and describe the engineering aspects and the serviceoriented software architecture of the domestic robot, a service robot with advanced manipulation capabilities. Based on the robot operating system(ROS) middleware, our software integrates a large set of advanced algorithms for navigation, perception, and manipulation. In tests with real end users, the performance and acceptability of the platform are evaluated.

Design and evaluation of window management operations in AR headset+smartphone interface

Background The combination of an augmented reality(AR)headset and a smartphone can simultaneously provide a wider display and a precise touch input;it can redefine the way we use applications today.However,users are deprived of such benefits owing to the independence of the two devices.There is a lack of intuitive and direct interactions between them.Methods In this study,we conduct a formative investigation to understand the window management requirements and interaction preferences of using an AR headset and a smartphone simultaneously and report the insights we gained.In addition,we introduce an example vocabulary of window management operations in the AR headset and smartphone interface.Results This allows users to manipulate windows in a virtual space and shift windows between devices efficiently and seamlessly.

Optimizationof Design Concept of Construction for Railway Passenger Stations in New Era

The concept of building up a“well-connected fully-integrated,enviomentfriendly,passenger-oriented,economic-efficient,culturally-rich,intelligent and A convenient”station has been being applied to practice in recent years.China State Railway Group Co.Ltd .(hereinafier referred to as CHINA RAILWAY)and the Academyof Arts&Design,Tsinghua University have jointly initiated a series of study projects around the topic of“cultural and artistic expression”aiming to optimize design concepts and explore the design aesthetics of China's railway passenger stations in practice.These projects have achieved some positive results and this paper aims to provide a better analysis of the design concept of railway passenger stations in the new era through ananalysis of those stations' design aesthetic.

Digital reading:An overview

Purpose: Digital reading is an important research topic in contemporary information science research. This paper aims to provide a snapshot of major studies on digital reading over the past few years.Design/methodology/approach: This paper begins by introducing the background in digital reading, then outlines major research findings.Findings: The paper demonstrates the growth of interest in information science and other disciplines in digital reading behavior. Five areas are highlighted: Digital reading behavior,print vs. digital, preference for reading medium, multi-tasking and learning, and technological advancement and traditional attachment.Research limitations: Only major studies in the North American and European countries are covered.Practical implications: Understanding reading behavior in the digital environment would help develop more effective reading devices and empower readers in the online environment.Originality/value: The paper represents a first attempt to compare, evaluate, and synthesize recent studies on digital reading. Implications for the changes in reading behavior are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.

Is it time for wider acceptance of e-textbooks? An examination of student reactions to e-textbooks

Purpose: This paper attempts to examine perceived benefits,barriers,and students' reactions towards e-textbooks.Design/methodology/approach: This study is based on a survey of 105 undergraduate students in California. Undergraduate students were selected as the subjects of this study,because they are heavy users of textbooks for their course work.Findings: E-textbooks will complement our existing choices rather than substitute printed textbooks. While e-textbooks offer a number of benefits,they also produce many unanticipated challenges. A number of critical hurdles need to be solved before wider acceptance.Research limitations: This study attempts to explore students' reactions to e-textbooks by targeting undergraduate students in California. Future studies can focus on the long-term effects on learning.Practical implications: Considerable attention should be paid to designing features to ensure e-textbooks augment learning rather than detract from it.Originality/value: This paper also looks at the extent to which e-reader users and none e-reader users differ in their preferences for traditional textbooks and e-textbooks.

A Study of Animated Transition in Similarity-Based Tiled Image Layout

For many information visualization applications, showing the transition when interacting with the data is critically important as it can help users better perceive the changes and understand the underlying data. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of animated transition in a tiled image layout where the spiral arrangement of the images is based on their similarity. Three aspects of animated transition are considered, including animation steps, animation actions, and flying paths. Exploring and weighting the advantages and disadvantages of different methods for each aspect and in conjunction with the characteristics of the spiral image layout, we present an integrated solution, called AniMap, for animating the transition from an old layout to a new layout when a different image is selected as the query image. We show the effectiveness of our animated transition solution by demonstrating experimental results and conducting a comparative user study.

Legends of the dashboard: an empirical evaluation of split and joint layout designs for geovisual analytics interfaces

Geodashboards are often designed with explanatory elements guiding users.These elements(e.g.legends or annotations)need to be carefully designed to mitigate split attention or information integration issues.In this paper,we report expert interviews followed by a controlled experiment where we compare two interface designs with a focus on the split attention effect:(1)a multiple-legend layout with explanatory elements located next to each view,and(2)a single-legend layout with all explanatory elements gathered in one place.Different legend layouts did not affect the performance,but affected user satisfaction.75%of the participants preferred the multiple-legend layout,and rated it with a higher usability score,mainly attributing this preference to the proximity of legend elements to the view of interest.Eye tracking data strongly and clearly verifies that participants indeed make use of the proximity:With the single-legend,the majority of eye-movement transitions were between the single-legend and the closest view to the legend,whereas with multiple-legend participants have shorter and more frequent legend visits,as well as more transitions between legends and views.Taken together,the design lesson we learned from this experiment can be summarized as‘split the legend elements,but make it close to the explained elements’.

Prevalence of the terrain reversal effect in satellite imagery

The terrain reversal effect is a perceptual phenomenon which causes an illusion in various 3D geographic visualizations where landforms appear inverted,e.g.we perceive valleys as ridges and vice versa.Given that such displays are important for spatio-visual analysis,this illusion can lead to critical mistakes in interpreting the terrain.However,it is currently undocumented how commonly this effect is experienced.In this paper,we study the prevalence of the terrain reversal effect in satellite imagery through a two-stage online user experiment.The experiment was conducted with the participation of a diverse and relatively large population(n=535).Participants were asked to identify landforms(valley or ridge?)or judge a 3D spatial relationship(is A higher than B?).When the images were rotated by 180°,the results were reversed.In a control task with‘illusion-free’original images,people were successful in identifying landforms,yet a very strong illusion occurred when these images were rotated 180°.Our findings demonstrate that the illusion is acutely present;thus,we need a better understanding of the problem and its solutions.Additionally,the results caution us that in an interactive environment where people can rotate the display,we might be introducing a severe perceptual problem.

Analyzing gaze behavior for text-embellished narrative visualizations under different task scenarios

We conduct an eye tracking study to investigate perception text-embellished narrative visualizations under different task conditions.Study stimuli are data visualizations embellished with text-based elements:annotations,captions,labels,and descriptive text.We consider three common viewing tasks that occur when these types of graphics are viewed:(1)simple observation,(2)active search to answer a query,and(3)information memorization for later recall.The overarching goal is to understand,at a perceptual level,if and how task affects how these visualizations are interacted with.By analyzing collected gaze data and conducting advanced semantic scanpath analysis,we find,at a high level,diverse patterns of gaze behavior:simple observation and information memorization lead to similar optical viewing strategies,while active search significantly diverges,both in regards to which areas of the visualization are focused upon and how often embellishments are interacted with.We discuss study outcomes in the context of embellishing visualizations with text for various usage scenarios.

Comparing the terrain reversal effect in satellite images and in shaded relief maps:an examination of the effects of color and texture on 3D shape perception from shading

Terrain reversal effect(TRE)causes reversed 3D shape perception in satellite images and shaded relief maps(SRMs),and introduces difficulties in identifying landforms such as valleys and ridges.With this paper,in a controlled laboratory experiment,we compare how well 27 participants could identify valleys and ridges over 33 locations using SRMs,color satellite images and grayscale satellite images.The main depth cue is shadow both in vertical-view images and SRMs.However,the presence of texture and color in images also affect 3D shape perception.All our participants experience the illusion strongly:with the SRMs,it is very severe(2%accuracy),with grayscale images low but considerably better than SRMs(17.6%accuracy),and slightly worse with color imagery(15.3%accuracy).These differences between SRMs and imagery suggest that the participants who are able to bypass the illusion consciously or subconsciously interpret the photographic information.We support this observation further with a cue-strength analysis.Furthermore,we provide exploratory analyses of the effects of expertise,global convexity bias,and bistable perception.Our original empirical observations serve towards a better understanding of this visual illusion,and contribute towards nuanced and appropriate solutions to correcting for TRE differently for satellite images and SRMs.

You get by with a little help:The effects of variable guidance degrees on performance and mental state

Since it can be challenging for users to effectively utilize interactive visualizations,guidance is usually provided to assist users in solving tasks.Guidance is mentioned as an effective mean to overcome stall situations occurring during the analysis.However,the effectiveness of a peculiar guidance solution usually varies for different analysis scenarios.The same guidance may have different effects on users with(1)different levels of expertise.The choice of the appropriate(2)degree of guidance and the type of(3)task under consideration also affect the positive or negative outcome of providing guidance.Considering these three factors,we conducted a user study to investigate the effectiveness of variable degrees of guidance with respect to the user’s previous knowledge in different analysis scenarios.Our results shed light on the appropriateness of certain degrees of guidance in relation to different tasks,and the overall influence of guidance on the analysis outcome in terms of user’s mental state and analysis performance.

The efficacy of stacked bar charts in supporting single-attribute and overall-attribute comparisons

Stacked bar charts are a visualization method for presenting multiple attributes of data,and many visualization tools support these charts.To assess the efficacy of stacked bar charts in supporting attributecomparison tasks,we conducted a user study to compare three types of stacked bar charts:classical,inverting,and diverging.Each chart type was used to visualize six attributes of data where half of the attributes have the characteristics of‘lower better’whereas the other half attributes are with‘higher better.’Thirty participants were asked to perform two types of comparison tasks:single-attribute and overall-attribute comparisons.We measured the completion time,error rate,and perceived difficulty of the comparison tasks.The results of the study suggest that,for overall-attribute comparisons,the inverting stacked bar chart was the most effective with regards to the completion time.The results also show that performing overall-attribute comparisons using the classical and diverging stacked bar charts required more time than performing single-attribute comparisons using these charts.Participants perceived the inverting and diverging stacked bar charts as easier-to-use than the classical stacked bar chart for overall-attribute comparisons.However,for single-attribute comparisons,all chart types delivered similar performance.We discuss how these findings can inform the better design of interactive stacked bar charts and visualization tools.

Comparative eye-tracking evaluation of scatterplots and parallel coordinates

We investigate task performance and reading characteristics for scatterplots(Cartesian coordinates)and parallel coordinates.In a controlled eye-tracking study,we asked 24 participants to assess the relative distance of points in multidimensional space,depending on the diagram type(parallel coordinates or a horizontal collection of scatterplots),the number of data dimensions(2,4,6,or 8),and the relative distance between points(15%,20%,or 25%).For a given reference point and two target points,we instructed participants to choose the target point that was closer to the reference point in multidimensional space.We present a visual scanning model that describes different strategies to solve this retrieval task for both diagram types,and propose corresponding hypotheses that we test using task completion time,accuracy,and gaze positions as dependent variables.Our results show that scatterplots outperform parallel coordinates significantly in 2 dimensions,however,the task was solved more quickly and more accurately with parallel coordinates in 8 dimensions.The eye-tracking data further shows significant differences between Cartesian and parallel coordinates,as well as between different numbers of dimensions.For parallel coordinates,there is a clear trend toward shorter fixations and longer saccades with increasing number of dimensions.Using an area-of-interest(AOI)based approach,we identify different reading strategies for each diagram type:For parallel coordinates,the participants’gaze frequently jumped back and forth between pairs of axes,while axes were rarely focused on when viewing Cartesian coordinates.We further found that participants’attention is biased:toward the center of the whole plot for parallel coordinates and skewed to the center/left side for Cartesian coordinates.We anticipate that these results may support the design of more effective visualizations for multidimensional data.

Towards designing telepresence robot navigation for people with disabilities

Purpose–The authors believe that people with cognitive and motor impairments may benefit from using of telepresence robots to engage in social activities.To date,these systems have not been designed for use by people with disabilities as the robot operators.The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach–The authors conducted two formative evaluations using a participatory action design process.First,the authors conducted a focus group(n¼5)to investigate how members of the target audience would want to direct a telepresence robot in a remote environment using speech.The authors then conducted a follow-on experiment in which participants(n¼12)used a telepresence robot or directed a human in a scavenger hunt task.Findings–The authors collected a corpus of 312 utterances(first hand as opposed to speculative)relating to spatial navigation.Overall,the analysis of the corpus supported several speculations put forth during the focus group.Further,it showed few statistically significant differences between speech used in the human and robot agent conditions;thus,the authors believe that,for the task of directing a telepresence robot’s movements in a remote environment,people will speak to the robot in a manner similar to speaking to another person.Practical implications–Based upon the two formative evaluations,the authors present four guidelines for designing speech-based interfaces for telepresence robots.Originality/value–Robot systems designed for general use do not typically consider people with disabilities.The work is a first step towards having our target population take the active role of the telepresence robot operator.