MSGID: 1:317/3 64a643b1   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Know your audience: Why data communication needs to pay attention to   
   novice users    
    Data visualizations researchers have no clear idea of what makes someone   
   a novice    
      
     Date:   
         July 5, 2023   
     Source:   
         University of Massachusetts Amherst   
     Summary:   
         Computer scientists recently found that data-visualization experts   
         have no agreed-upon understanding of who makes up one of their   
         largest audiences -- novice users. The work is an important first   
         step in ensuring more inclusive data visualizations, and thus data   
         visualization that works for all users.   
      
      
         Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email   
      
   ==========================================================================   
   FULL STORY   
   ==========================================================================   
   Computer scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently   
   found that data-visualization experts have no agreed-upon understanding   
   of who makes up one of their largest audiences -- novice users. The work,   
   which recently won a coveted Best Paper Award at the Association for   
   Computing Machinery's conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems   
   (ACM CHI), is an important first step in ensuring more inclusive data   
   visualizations, and thus data visualization that works for all users.   
      
   Data visualization is the representation of data in a visual and   
   easily understandable way using common graphics such as charts, plots,   
   infographics and animations. Using visual elements provides an accessible   
   way to see and understand trends, outliers and patterns in data. One of   
   the most familiar data visualizations -- the pie chart -- is legible to   
   nearly everyone and has been a method used to quickly convey information   
   since its invention in the early nineteenth century.   
      
   But, with the advent of the internet, the range, reach and complexity of   
   such visualizations have grown exponentially. Think of the various online   
   COVID trackers, graphics showing economic projections or the outcomes   
   of national elections. "More and more, everyday people are relying on   
   data visualizations to make decisions about their lives," says Narges   
   Mayhar, assistant professor in the Manning College of Information and   
   Computer Science at UMass Amherst, and the paper's senior author. "Even   
   many of our collective decisions rest on data visualizations."  Since a   
   visualization's use is dependent on its intelligibility, one would   
   think that data visualization experts would have a clear and standard   
   understanding of their audience, particularly their non-expert users. And   
   yet, "despite many decades of data-visualization research, we had no clear   
   notion of what makes someone a 'novice,'" says Mayhar. This insight was   
   important enough that the ACM CHI, the premier international conference   
   for human-computer interaction, bestowed the Best Paper Award on the   
   research, an honor reserved for the top 1% of submitted papers.   
      
   Mayhar, lead author Alyxander Burns, who completed the research as   
   part of his graduate studies at UMass Amherst, and their co-authors   
   combed through the past 30 years of visualization research and found 79   
   papers spread across seven academic journals that concerned themselves   
   with identifying the audience for data visualizations. Within those 79   
   papers, they found that the definitions of a novice user ranged widely,   
   from people who have difficulty "effectively utilizing GPU clusters"   
   to those who lack knowledge of "ontological models."  Moreover, the team   
   found that most researchers' sample groups of users overwhelmingly skewed   
   toward white, college-aged people living in the U.S.   
      
   "How do we know that the visualizations we create could work for older   
   people, for those without college degrees, for people living in one of   
   the world's many other countries?" asks Mayhar. "We need to be clear,   
   as a field, what we mean when we say 'novice,' and the goal of this paper   
   is to change the way that visualization researchers think about novices,   
   address their needs and design tools that work for everyone."   
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Mind_&_Brain   
                   # Relationships # Perception # Multiple_Sclerosis #   
                   Social_Psychology   
             o Computers_&_Math   
                   # Information_Technology # Hacking #   
                   Computers_and_Internet # Encryption   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Scientific_visualization o Data_mining o Computer_vision   
             o Quantum_computer o 3D_computer_graphics o Computer o   
             Computer_virus o Scientific_method   
      
   ==========================================================================   
      
    Print   
      
    Email   
      
    Share   
   ==========================================================================   
   ****** 1 ****** ***** 2 ***** **** 3 ****   
   *** 4 *** ** 5 ** Breaking this hour   
   ==========================================================================   
       * Why_Birds_Ancestors_Lived;_Other_Dinosaurs_Died *   
       Dissolving_Cardiac_Device_Treats_Heart_Disease *   
       Webb_Locates_Dust_Reservoirs_in_Two_Supernovae *   
       Earth_Formed_from_Dry,_Rocky_Building_Blocks *   
       Ancient_Volcanic_Activity_On_Moon's_Dark_Side *   
       Highly_Conductive_Metallic_Gel_for_3D_Printing *   
       Potent_Greenhouse_Gas_Could_Be_Abated_Today *   
       Polymer_Brains_for_Artificial_Neural_Networks *   
       Early_Apex_Predator_Sought_Soft_Over_...   
      
       * Time_in_Universe_Once_Flowed_Five_Times_Slower   
      
   Trending Topics this week   
   ==========================================================================   
   SPACE_&_TIME Black_Holes Astrophysics NASA MATTER_&_ENERGY Biochemistry   
   Optics Petroleum COMPUTERS_&_MATH Communications Educational_Technology   
   Computer_Modeling   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Strange & Offbeat   
   ==========================================================================   
   SPACE_&_TIME   
   Quasar_'Clocks'_Show_Universe_Was_Five_Times_Slower_Soon_After_the_Big_Bang   
   First_'Ghost_Particle'_Image_of_Milky_Way   
   Gullies_on_Mars_Could_Have_Been_Formed_by_Recent_Periods_of_Liquid_Meltwater,   
   Study_Suggests MATTER_&_ENERGY   
   Researchers_Create_Highly_Conductive_Metallic_Gel_for_3D_Printing   
   Growing_Bio-Inspired_Polymer_Brains_for_Artificial_Neural_Networks   
   Displays_Controlled_by_Flexible_Fins_and_Liquid_Droplets_More_Versatile,   
   Efficient_Than_LED_Screens COMPUTERS_&_MATH   
   AI_Tests_Into_Top_1%_for_Original_Creative_Thinking   
   Turning_Old_Maps_Into_3D_Digital_Models_of_Lost_Neighborhoods   
   NeuWS_Camera_Answers_'Holy_Grail_Problem'_in_Optical_Imaging Story Source:   
   Materials provided by University_of_Massachusetts_Amherst. Note: Content   
   may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Journal Reference:   
      1. Alyxander Burns, Christiana Lee, Ria Chawla, Evan Peck, Narges   
      Mahyar.   
      
         Who Do We Mean When We Talk About Visualization Novices? Association   
         for Computing Machinery's conference on Human Factors in Computing   
         Systems (ACM CHI), 2023 DOI: 10.1145/3544548.3581524   
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230705142920.htm   
      
   --- up 1 year, 18 weeks, 2 days, 10 hours, 50 minutes   
    * Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)   
   SEEN-BY: 15/0 106/201 114/705 123/120 153/7715 218/700 226/30 227/114   
   SEEN-BY: 229/110 112 113 307 317 400 426 428 470 664 700 291/111 292/854   
   SEEN-BY: 298/25 305/3 317/3 320/219 396/45 5075/35   
   PATH: 317/3 229/426