DevLan/vispubs huggingface dataset:
SDM: malleable information graphics
Authors: Mei C. Chuah, Steven F. Roth, Joe Mattis, John Kolojejchick
Published at InfoVis, 1995

Selective dynamic manipulation (SDM) is a paradigm for interacting with objects in visualizations. Its methods offer a high degree of selectivity, in choosing object sets, in the selection of interactive techniques and the properties they affect, and in the degree to which a user action affects the visualization. Our goal is to provide a flexible set of techniques and feedback mechanisms that enable users to move objects and transform their appearance to perform a variety of information analysis tasks.
The information mural: a technique for displaying and navigating large information spaces
Authors: Dean F. Jerding, John T. Stasko
Published at InfoVis, 1995

Visualizations which depict entire information spaces provide context for navigation and browsing tasks; however, the limited size of the display screen makes creating effective global views difficult. We have developed a technique for displaying and navigating large information spaces. The key concept is the use of an information mural, a two-dimensional reduced representation of an entire information space that fits completely within a display window or screen. Information murals use grayscale shading and color along with anti-aliasing techniques to create a miniature version of the entire data set. By incorporating navigational capabilities, information murals become a tool that can be used as a global view along with more detailed informational displays. Information murals are utilized in our software visualization research to help depict the execution of object-oriented programs, and can also be used in more general information visualization applications.
Towards a generative theory of diagram design
Authors: Klaus Reichenberger, Thomas Kamps, Gene Golovchinsky
Published at InfoVis, 1995

We describe the theoretical background for AVE, an automatic visualization engine for semantic networks. We have a functional notion of aesthetics and therefore understand meaningfulness as a central issue for information visualization. This implies that the diagrams should communicate the characteristics of the data as effectively as possible. In this generative theory of diagram design, we include data characterization, systematic use of graphical means of expression and the combination of graphical means of expression. After giving a brief introduction and an application scenario we discuss these aspects in detail. Finally, a process model of an automatic visualization process is sketched and directions for further research are outlined.
Visualisation for functional design
Authors: Robert Spence, Lisa Tweedie, Huw Dawkes, Hua Su
Published at InfoVis, 1995

We present two novel visualisation tools: the Influence Explorer and the Prosection Matrix. These were specifically created to support engineering artifact design and similar tasks in which a set of parameter values must be chosen to lead to acceptable artifact performance. These tools combine two concepts. One is the interactive and virtually immediate responsive display of data in a manner conducive to the acquisition of insight. The other, involving the precalculation of samples of artifact performance, facilitates smooth exploration and optimisation leading to a design decision. The anticipated benefits of these visualisation tools are illustrated by an example taken from electronic circuit design, in which full account must be taken of the uncertainties in parameter values arising from inevitable variations in the manufacturing process.
Visualizing the non-visual: spatial analysis and interaction with information from text documents
Authors: James A. Wise, James J. Thomas, Kelly Pennock, David Lantrip, Marc Pottier, Anne Schur, Vern Crow
Published at InfoVis, 1995

The paper describes an approach to IV that involves spatializing text content for enhanced visual browsing and analysis. The application arena is large text document corpora such as digital libraries, regulations and procedures, archived reports, etc. The basic idea is that text content from these sources may be transformed to a spatial representation that preserves informational characteristics from the documents. The spatial representation may then be visually browsed and analyzed in ways that avoid language processing and that reduce the analysts mental workload. The result is an interaction with text that more nearly resembles perception and action with the natural world than with the abstractions of written language.
VRMosaic: WEB access from within a virtual environment
Authors: Ian G. Angus, Henry Sowizral
Published at InfoVis, 1995

Virtual reality can aid in designing large and complex structures such as ships, skyscrapers, factories, and aircraft. But before VR can realize this potential, we need to solve a number of problems. One of these problems: the user's need to see and interact with non-geometric information is examined. Our VR environment, RealEyes, can display large-scale and detailed geometry at reasonable frame rates (&gt;20 Hz) allowing a user to see and navigate within a design from a first person perspective. However, much (if not most) of the information associated with a particular design has no geometric representation. This includes information such as schematics of electrical, hydraulic, and plumbing systems; information describing materials or processes; and descriptive (textual) information of other types. Many researchers have developed a wealth of techniques for presenting such data on flat-screen displays, but until recently, we have not had a means for naturally displaying such information within a VR environment. To make non-geometric data more available, we have implemented a version of Mosaic that functions within a fully immersive VR system. Our system, VRMosaic, allows a user of VR to access and display most of the data available using flat screen Mosaic. Moreover, we have made it extensible to allow for the seamless integration of specialized forms of data and interaction. This paper describes how we implemented VRMosaic using a VR-capable version of Interviews, It also describes some Mosaic-like uses of that system and some "non-Mosaic-like" extensions.
A Focus+Context Technique Based on Hyperbolic Geometry for Visualizing Large Hierarchies
Authors: John Lamping, Ramana Rao, Peter Pirolli
Published at CHI, 1995

We present a new focus+context (fisheye) technique for visualizing and manipulating large hierarchies. Our technique assigns more display space to a portion of the hierarchy while still embedding it in the context of the entire hierarchy. The essence of this scheme is to lay out the hierarchy in a uniform way on a hyperbolic plane an d map this plane onto a circular display region. This supports a smooth blending between focus and context, as well as continuous redirection of the focus. We have developed effective procedures for manipulating the focus using pointer clicks as well as interactive dragging, and for smoothly an imating transitions across such manipulation. A laboratory experiment comparing the hyperbolic browser with a conventional hierarchy browser was conducted.
An Organic User Interface for Searching Citation Links
Authors: Jock D. Mackinlay, Ramana Rao, Stuart K. Card
Published at CHI, 1995

This paper describes Butterfly, an Information Visualizer application for accessing DIALOG'S Science Citation databases across the Internet. Network information often involves slow access that conflicts with the use of highly-interactive information visualization. Butterfly addresses this problem, integrating search, browsing, and access management via four techniques: 1) visualization supports the assimilation of retrieved information and integrates search and browsing activity, 2) automatically-created "link-generating" queries assemble bibliographic records that contain reference information into citation graphs, 3) asynchronous query processes explore the resulting graphs for the user, and 4) process controllers allow the user to manage these processes. We use our positive experience with the Butterfly implementation to propose a general information access approach, called Organic User Inteifacesfor Infomiation Access, in which a virtual landscape grows under user control as information is accessed automatically.
Articulating a Metaphor through User-Centered Design
Authors: H. J. Moll-Carrillo, Gitta Salomon, Matthew Marsh, Jane Fulton Suri, Peter Spreenberg
Published at CHI, 1995

TabWorksTM book metaphor enhances the standard WindowsTM user interface, providing an alternative way to organize applications and documents in a familiar, easy to use environment. The TabWorks interface was designed collaboratively by IDEO and XSoft and was based on a concept developed at Xerox PARe. This briefing describes how a user-centered approach affected the design of the TabWorks user interface: how the metaphor's visualization evolved and how interaction mechanisms were selected and designed.
Bridging the Gulf Between Code and Behavior in Programming
Authors: Henry Lieberman, Christopher Fry
Published at CHI, 1995

Program debugging can be an expensive, complex and frustrating process. Conventional programming environments provide little explicit support for the cognitive tasks of diagnosis and visualization faced by the programmer.
Electronic Futures Markets versus Floor Trading: Implications for Interface Design
Authors: Satu S. Parikh, Gerald L. Lohse
Published at CHI, 1995

The primary concern in designing an interface for an electronic trading system is the impact on market liquidity [9]. Current systems make use of efficient order-execution algorithms but fail to capture elements of the trading floor that contribute to an efficient market [9]. We briefly describe tasks conducted in futures pit trading and current off-hours electronic trading systems. Understanding the tasks helps define key components to an interface for electronic trading. These include visualization of the market and its participants, a trading process which allows active participation and price discovery as well as concurrent interaction among each of the participants.
GeoSpace: An Interactive Visualization System for Exploring Complex Information Spaces
Authors: Ishantha Lokuge, Suguru Ishizaki
Published at CHI, 1995

This paper presents a reactive interface display which allows information seekers to explore complex information spaces. We have adopted information seeking dialogue as a fundamental model of interaction and implemented a prototype system in the mapping domain-GeoSpace-which progressively provides information upon a user's input queries. Domain knowledge is represented in a form of information presentation plan modules, and an activation spreading network technique is used to determine the relevance of information. The reactive nature of the activation spreading network, combined with visual design techniques, such as typography, color and transparency enables the system to support the information seeker in exploring the complex information space. The system also incorporates a simple learning mechanism which enables the system to adapt the display to a particular user's preferences. GeoSpace allows users to rapidly identify information in a dense display and it cali guide a users' attention in a fluid manner while preserving overall context.
Providing Assurances in a Multimedia Interactive Environment
Authors: Dorée D. Seligmann, Rebecca Mercuri, John T. Edmark
Published at CHI, 1995

In ordinary telephone calls, we rely on cues for the assurance that the connection is active and that the other party is listening to what we are saying. For instance, noise on the line (whether it be someone's voice, traffic sounds, or background static from a bad connection) tells us about the state of our connection. Similarly, the occasional "uhuh" or muffled sounds from a side conversation tells us about the focus and activity of the person on the line. Conventional telephony is based on a single connection for communication between two parties — as such, it has relatively simple assurance needs. Multimedia, multiparty systems increase the complexity of the communication in two orthogonal directions, leading to a concomitant increase in assurance needs. As the complexity of these systems and services grows, it becomes increasingly difficult for users to assess the current state of these services and the level of the user interactions within the systems. We have addressed this problem through the use of assurances that are designed to provide information about the connectivity, presence, focus, and activity in an environment that is part virtual and part real. We describe how independent network media services (a virtual meeting room service, a holophonic sound service, an application sharing service, and a 3D augmented reality visualization system) were designed to work together, providing users with coordinated cohesive assurances for virtual contexts in multimedia, multiparty communication and interaction.
Space-Scale Diagrams: Understanding Multiscale Interfaces
Authors: George W. Furnas, Benjamin B. Bederson
Published at CHI, 1995

Big information worlds cause big problems for interfaces. There is too much to see. They are hard to navigate. An armada of techniques has been proposed to present the many scales of information needed. Space-scale diagrams provide an analytic framework for much of this work. By representing both a spatial world and its different magnifications explicitly, the diagrams allow the direct visualization and analysis of important scale related issues for interfaces.
TileBars: Visualization of Term Distribution Information in Full Text Information Access
Authors: Marti A. Hearst
Published at CHI, 1995

The field of information retrieval has traditionally focused on textbases consisting of titles and abstracts. As a consequence, many underlying assumptions must be altered for retrieval from full-length text collections. This paper argues for making use of text structure when retrieving from full text documents, and presents a visualization paradigm, called TileBars, that demonstrates the usefulness of explicit term distribution information in Boolean-type queries. TileBars simultaneously and compactly indicate relative document length, query term frequency, and query term distribution. The patterns in a column of TileBars can be quickly scanned and deciphered, aiding users in making judgments about the potential relevance of the retrieved documents.
Virtual Reality on a WIM: Interactive Worlds in Miniature
Authors: Richard Stoakley, Matthew Conway, Randy F. Pausch
Published at CHI, 1995

This paper explores a user interface technique which augments an immersive head tracked display with a hand-held miniature copy of the virtual environment. We call this interface technique the Worlds in Miniature (WIM) metaphor. By establishing a direct relationship between life-size objects in the virtual world and miniature objects in the WIM, we can use the WIM as a tool for manipulating objects in the virtual environment. In addition to describing object manipulation, this paper explores ways in which Worlds in Miniature can act as a single unifying metaphor for such application independent interaction techniques as object selection, navigation, path planning, and visualization. The WIM metaphor naturally offers multiple points of view and multiple scales at which the user can operate, all without requiring explicit modes or commands. Informal user observation indicates that users adapt to the Worlds in Miniature metaphor quickly and that physical props are helpful in manipulating the WIM and other objects in the environment.
Visualizing Complex Hypermedia Networks through Multiple Hierarchical Views
Authors: Sougata Mukherjea, James D. Foley, Scott E. Hudson
Published at CHI, 1995

Our work concerns visualizing the information space of hypermedia systems using multiple hierarchical views. Although overview diagrams are useful for helping the user to navigate in a hypermedia system, for any real-world system they become too complicated and large to be really useful. This is because these diagrams represent complex network structures which are very difficult to visualize and comprehend. On the other hand, effective visualizations of hierarchies have been developed. Our strategy is to provide the user with different hierarchies, each giving a different perspective to the underlying information space, to help the user better comprehend the information. We propose an algorithm based on content and structural analysis to form hierarchies from hypermedia networks. The algorithm is automatic but can be guided by the user. The multiple hierarchies can be visualized in various ways. We give examples of the implementation of the algorithm on two hypermedia systems.
3D visualization of unsteady 2D airplane wake vortices
Authors: Kwan-Liu Ma, Z. C. Zheng
Published at Vis, 1994

Air flowing around the wing tips of an airplane forms horizontal tornado-like vortices that can be dangerous to following aircraft. The dynamics of such vortices, including ground and atmospheric effects, can be predicted by numerical simulation, allowing the safety and capacity of airports to be improved. We introduce three-dimensional techniques for visualizing time-dependent, two-dimensional wake vortex computations, and the hazard strength of such vortices near the ground. We describe a vortex core tracing algorithm and a local tiling method to visualize the vortex evolution. The tiling method converts time-dependent, two-dimensional vortex cores into three-dimensional vortex tubes. Finally, a novel approach is used to calculate the induced rolling moment on the following airplane at each grid point within a region near the vortex tubes and thus allows three-dimensional visualization of the hazard strength of the vortices.&lt;&lt;ETX&gt;&gt;
A case study on visualization for boundary value problems
Authors: Gábor Domokos, Randy C. Paffenroth
Published at Vis, 1994

In this paper we present a method, and a software based on this method, making highly inter-active visualization possible for computational results on nonlinear BVPs associated with ODEs. The program PCR relies partly on computer graphics tools and partly on real-time computations, the combination of which not only helps the understanding of complex problems, it also permits the reduction of stored data by orders of magnitude. The method has been implemented on PCs (running on DOS) and on the Application Visualization System (AVS) for UNIX machines, this paper provides a brief introduction to the latter version besides describing the mathematical background of the method.&lt;&lt;ETX&gt;&gt;
A distributed, parallel, interactive volume rendering package
Authors: John S. Rowlan, G. Edward Lent, Nihar Gokhale, Shannon Bradshaw
Published at Vis, 1994

This paper presents a parallel ray-casting volume rendering algorithm and its implementation on the massively parallel IBM SP-1 computer using the Chameleon message passing library. Though this algorithm takes advantage of many of the unique features of the SP-1 (e.g. high-speed switch, large memory per node, high-speed disk array, HIPPI display, et al.), the use of Chameleon allows the code to be executed on any collection of workstations. The algorithm is image-ordered and distributes the data and the computational load to individual processors. After the volume data is distributed, all processors then perform local ray tracing of their respective subvolumes concurrently. No interprocess communication takes place during the ray tracing process. After a subimage is generated by each processor, the final image is obtained by composing subimages between all the processors. The program itself is implemented as an interactive process through a GUI residing on a graphics workstation which is coupled to the parallel rendering algorithm via sockets. The paper highlights the Chameleon implementation, the GUI, some optimization improvements, static load balancing, and direct parallel display to a HIPPI framebuffer.&lt;&lt;ETX&gt;&gt;
A lattice model for data display
Authors: Bill Hibbard, Charles R. Dyer, Brian E. Paul
Published at Vis, 1994

In order to develop a foundation for visualization, we develop lattice models for data objects and displays that focus on the fact that data objects are approximations to mathematical objects and real displays are approximations to ideal displays. These lattice models give us a way to quantize the information content of data and displays and to define conditions on the visualization mappings from data to displays. Mappings satisfy these conditions if and only if they are lattice isomorphisms. We show how to apply this result to scientific data and display models, and discuss how it might be applied to recursively defined data types appropriate for complex information processing.&lt;&lt;ETX&gt;&gt;
A library for visualizing combinatorial structures
Authors: Marc Najork, Marc H. Brown
Published at Vis, 1994

Describes ANIM3D, a 3D animation library targeted at visualizing combinatorial structures. In particular, we are interested in algorithm animation. Constructing a new view for an algorithm typically takes dozens of design iterations, and can be very time-consuming. Our library eases the programmer's burden by providing high-level constructs for performing animations, and by offering an interpretive environment that eliminates the need for recompilations. We also illustrate ANIM3D's expressiveness by developing a 3D animation of Dijkstra's shortest-path algorithm in just 70 lines of code.&lt;&lt;ETX&gt;&gt;
An annotation system for 3D fluid flow visualization
Authors: Maria M. Loughlin, John F. Hughes
Published at Vis, 1994

Annotation is a key activity of data analysis. However, current data analysis systems focus almost exclusively on visualization. We propose a system which integrates annotations into a visualization system. Annotations are embedded in 3D data space, using the Post-it metaphor. This embedding allows contextual-based information storage and retrieval, and facilitates information sharing in collaborative environments. We provide a traditional database filter and a Magic Lens filter to create specialized views of the data. The system is customized for fluid flow applications, with features which allow users to store parameters of visualization tools and sketch 3D volumes.&lt;&lt;ETX&gt;&gt;
An evaluation of reconstruction filters for volume rendering
Authors: Steve Marschner, Richard Lobb
Published at Vis, 1994

To render images from a three-dimensional array of sample values, it is necessary to interpolate between the samples. This paper is concerned with interpolation methods that are equivalent to convolving the samples with a reconstruction filter; this covers all commonly used schemes, including trilinear and cubic interpolation. We first outline the formal basis of interpolation in three-dimensional signal processing theory. We then propose numerical metrics that can be used to measure filter characteristics that are relevant to the appearance of images generated using that filter. We apply those metrics to several previously used filters and relate the results to isosurface images of the interpolations. We show that the choice of interpolation scheme can have a dramatic effect on image quality, and we discuss the cost/benefit tradeoff inherent in choosing a filter.&lt;&lt;ETX&gt;&gt;