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ItemWhat's Happening?: Promoting Community Awareness through Opportunistic, Peripheral Interfaces(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2002) Zhao, Qiang Alex ; Stasko, John T.Maintaining an awareness of information about one's own community and its members is viewed as being important, but is becoming more challenging today as people are overwhelmed by so many different forms of information. We have developed the "What's Happening" suite of tools to help convey relevant and interesting community information to people in a manner that is minimally distracting and disruptive, with little or no user set-up and interaction. The tools are more lightweight than e-mail and Usenet news, and opportunistic in providing information to people when they are not deeply focused on some other task. This paper describes these tools and the techniques that they use, as well as our observations of their utility and impact.
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ItemNew Operations for Display Space Management and Window Management(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2002) Hutchings, Dugald Ralph ; Stasko, John T.We present a set of new operations for managing screen real estate that allow windows to acquire more desktop space. This set of operations obeys the following guidelines: (1) the visible information contents of each window are preserved (i.e., operations never result in covering already-exposed window contents), (2) operation invocation requires only simple user action, and (3) windows grow and move in a natural and easily understandable manner, mimicking the interactions of colliding physical objects. We call the main operations expand and shove. Expand and shove represent two endpoints on a space-acquisition scale, and we give other possible operations called jostle and ram that fall between these two points. Additional concepts of undo (to allow windows to revert to earlier sizes and positions) and relevant regions (to allow more tightly controlled window information regions to be indicated) are also introduced. To theoretically support the methods used by the operations, we present a classification of the possible ways that pairs of windows can initially overlap and subsequently interact during the operations.
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ItemAnthropomorphic Agents as a UI Paradigm: Experimental Findings and a Framework for Research(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2002) Catrambone, Richard ; Stasko, John T. ; Xiao, JunResearch on anthropomorphic agent interfaces has produced widely divergent results. We suggest that this is due to insufficient consideration of key factors that influence the perception and effectiveness of agent-based interfaces. Thus, we propose a framework for studying anthropomorphic agents that can systematize the research. The framework emphasizes features of the agent, the user, and the task the user is performing. Our initial experiment within this framework manipulated the agent's appearance (lifelike versus iconic) and the nature of the user's task (carrying out procedures versus providing opinions). We found that the perception of the agent was strongly influenced by the task while features of the agent that we manipulated had little effect.
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ItemArtistically Conveying Peripheral Information with the InfoCanvas(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2002) Miller, Todd ; Stasko, John T.The Internet and World Wide Web have made a tremendous amount of information available to people today. Taking advantage of and managing this information, however, is becoming increasingly challenging due to its volume and the variety of sources available. We attempt to reduce this overload with the InfoCanvas, an ambient display of a personalized, information-driven, visual collage. Through a web-based interface, people identify information of interest, associate a pictorial representation with it, and place the representation on a virtual canvas. The end result is an information collage, displayed on a secondary monitor or net appliance, that allows people to keep tabs on information in a calm, unobtrusive manner. This paper presents details on how a person can create and manage information with the InfoCanvas, and how we provide such capabilities.
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ItemVisually Encoding Program Test Information to Find Faults in Software(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2001) Eagan, James Robinson, Jr. ; Harrold, Mary Jean ; Jones, James Arthur ; Stasko, John T.Large test suites are frequently used to evaluate the correctness of software systems and to locate errors. Unfortunately, this process can generate a huge amount of data that is difficult to interpret manually. We have created a system called Tarantula that visually encodes test data to help find program errors. The system uses a principled color mapping to represent how particular source lines act in passed and failed tests. It also provides a flexible user interface for examining different perspectives that show the effects on source regions of test suites ranging from individual tests, to important subsets such as the set of failed tests, to the entire test suite.
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ItemAn Evaluation of Space-Filling Information Visualizations for Depicting Hierarchical Structures(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2000) Stasko, John T. ; Catrambone, Richard ; Guzdial, Mark ; McDonald, KevinA variety of information visualization tools have been developed recently, but relatively little effort has been made to evaluate the effectiveness and utility of the tools. This article describes results from two empirical studies of two visualization tools for depicting hierarchies, in particular, computer file and directory structures. The two systems examined implement space-filling methodologies, one rectangular, the Treemap method, and one circular, the Sunburst method. Participants performed typical file/directory search and analysis tasks using the two tools. In general, performance trends favored the Sunburst tool with respect to correct task performance, particularly on initial use. Performance with Treemap tended to improve over time and use, suggesting a greater learning cost that was partially recouped over time. Each tool afforded somewhat different search strategies, which also appeared to influence performance. Finally, participants strongly preferred the Sunburst tool, citing better ability to convey structure and hierarchy.
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ItemEvaluating Animation as a Mechanism for Maintaining Peripheral Awareness(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2000) McCrickard, D. Scott ; Stasko, John T. ; Catrambone, RichardAnimation is becoming increasingly used to communicate information within some limited viewing area. Little is known, however, about the effectiveness and the possible distractions of animation used in this way. This article describes an initial experiment exploring the information awareness and distraction capabilities of different styles of animation.
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ItemFocus+Context Display and Navigation Techniques for Enhancing Radial, Space-Filling Hierarchy Visualizations(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2000) Stasko, John T. ; Zhang, EugeneRadial, space-filling visualizations can be useful for depicting information hierarchies, but they suffer from one major problem. As the hierarchy grows in size, many items become small, peripheral slices that are difficult to distinguish. We have developed three visualization/interaction techniques that provide flexible browsing of the display. The techniques allow viewers to examine the small items in detail while providing context within the entire information hierarchy. Additionally, smooth transitions between views help users maintain orientation within the complete information space.
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ItemExploring Animation as a Presentation Technique for Dynamic Information Sources(Georgia Institute of Technology, 1999) McCrickard, D. Scott ; Stasko, John T. ; Zhao, Qiang AlexThe constantly growing and changing nature of certain information sources creates new problems in presenting it to the user. While it may be desirable to maintain awareness of changes to this information, it is typically not a person's primary task. This article describes how animation can be used to communicate dynamic information in a limited space and with limited disruption to the user. We focus on a study on the preferences and reactions of twenty-five participants to tkscore, an application that presents NCAA Tournament game scores using a variety of different animated displays. Results from the study are provided along with future research directions.
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ItemRethinking the Evaluation of Algorithm Animations as Learning Aids: An Observational Study(Georgia Institute of Technology, 1999) Kehoe, Colleen Mary ; Stasko, John T. ; Taylor, AshleyA number of prior studies have found that using animation to help teach algorithms had less beneficial effects on learning than hoped. Those results surprise many computer science instructors whose intuition leads them to believe that algorithm animations should assist instruction. This article reports on a study in which animation is utilized in more of a "homework" learning scenario rather than a "final exam" scenario. Our focus is on understanding how learners will utilize animation and other instructional materials in trying to understand a new algorithm, and on gaining insight into how animations can fit into successful learning strategies. The study indicates that students use sophisticated combinations of instructional materials in learning scenarios. In particular, the presence of algorithm animations seems to make a challenging algorithm more accessible and less intimidating, thus leading to enhanced student interaction with the materials and facilitating learning.