this article is that it demonstrates where novel focus# context views might become particularly useful for experienced users. It appears that novel, 3D interactive techniques might best be introduced alongside more familiar 2D visualizations, allowing the user to mix interaction strategies as necessary. The article by North and Shneiderman (2000) in this issue echoes this latter "nding

Many applications provide a form-like interface for requesting information: the user fills in some fields, submits the form, and the application presents corresponding results. Such a procedure becomes burdensome if (1) the user must submit many different requests, for example in pursuing a trial-and-error search, (2) results from one application are to be used as inputs for another, requiring the user to transfer them by hand, or (3) the user wants to compare results, but only the results from one request can be seen at a time. We describe how users can reduce this burden by creating custom interfaces using three mechanisms: clipping of input and result elements from existing applications to form cells on a spreadsheet; connecting these cells using formulas, thus enabling result transfer between applications; and cloning cells so that multiple requests can be handled side by side. We demonstrate a prototype of these mechanisms, initially specialised for handling Web applications, and show how it lets users build new interfaces to suit their individual needs.

Large financial institutions such as Bank of America handle hundreds of thousands of wire transactions per day. Although most transactions are legitimate, these institutions have legal and financial obligations in discovering those that are suspicious. With the methods of fraudulent activities ever changing, searching on predefined patterns is often insufficient in detecting previously undiscovered methods. In this paper, we present a set of coordinated visualizations based on identifying specific keywords within the wire transactions. The different views used in our system depict relationships

Abstract—Interaction cost is an important but poorly understood factor in visualization design. We propose a framework of interaction costs inspired by Norman’s Seven Stages of Action to facilitate study. From 484 papers, we collected 61 interaction-related usability problems reported in 32 user studies and placed them into our framework of seven costs: (1) Decision costs to form goals; (2) System-power costs to form system operations; (3) Multiple input mode costs to form physical sequences; (4) Physical-motion costs to execute sequences; (5) Visual-cluttering costs to perceive state; (6) View-change costs to interpret perception; (7) State-change costs to evaluate interpretation. We also suggested ways to narrow the gulfs of execution (2–4) and evaluation (5–7) based on collected reports. Our framework suggests a need to consider decision costs (1) as the gulf of goal formation.

Relational databases provide significant flexibility to organize, store, and manipulate an infinite variety of complex data collections. This flexibility is enabled by the concept of relational data schemas, which allow data owners to easily design custom databases according to their unique needs. However, user interfaces and information visualizations for accessing and utilizing databases have not kept pace with this level of flexibility. Visualizations need to integrate multiple tables and diverse visualization tools into custom solutions. This paper describes advances to Snap-Together Visualization, introduces Visualization Schemas, and presents an extensible system architecture. The Snap model for custom multiple-view visualization establishes an analogy to the relational data model, enabling coordinated data design and visualization design. Visualization Schemas are a natural extension to data schemas, and provide a user interface that enables data owners to rapidly construct and disseminate custom visualizations without programming. The web-based software architecture supports run-time extensibility, enabling end-user integration and dissemination of diverse data and visualization tools from the field.

This paper presents a new framework for Metadata Visualization Systems called VisMeB (Visual Metadata Browser). It is based upon redesign ideas from the INSY-DER 1 System that were come under extensive evaluations. The aim of our approach is to improve the process of finding relevant information in an intuitive yet multifunctional way. We use a ScatterPlot in combination with a so called SuperTable for visualization. The two techniques are tightly coupled and present unique possibilities of interaction through the use of visual filters. 1.

Gravi++ is a visualization method that is designed to support psychotherapists in their work with anorectic girls. During the therapy complex and time dependent data have to be analyzed. Statistical methods cannot be used in this context, and visualizations seem to be a viable alternative. Gravi++ is based on a spring metaphor. It can represent time dependent data easily. There is still too little systematic and empirically validated knowledge to support the design of such information visualizations. Therefore, extensive evaluation is necessary. The evaluation process is composed of two steps – a usability study and the evaluation of the Gravi++ method as such. The following paper describes the usability study. Methods used were usability inspection / guideline review, heuristic evaluation and focus groups. Heuristic evaluation was a very valuable method for identifying usability problems. Focus groups did not yield very much additional factual knowledge but gave important insights about the subjective importance of usability problems.

Abstract. Concept browsing interfaces can help educators and learners to locate and use learning resources that are aligned with recognized learning goals. The Strand Map Service enables users to navigate interactive visualizations of related learning goals and to request digital library resources aligned with learning goals. These interfaces are created using a programmatic web service interface that dynamically generates interactive visual components. Preliminary findings suggest that these library interfaces appear to help users stay focused on the scientific content of their information discovery task, as opposed to focusing on the mechanics of searching. 1

Abstract — We present an interactive framework for exploring space-time relationships in databases of experimentally collected highresolution biomechanical data. These data describe complex 3D motions (chewing, walking, flying, etc.) performed by animals and humans and captured via high-speed imaging technologies, such as biplane fluoroscopy. In analyzing these 3D biomechanical motions, interactive 3D visualizations are important, in particular, for supporting spatial analysis. However, as researchers in information visualization have pointed out, 2D visual representations of motion are also effective for trend analysis, especially for long and complex animation sequences. Our approach, therefore, combines techniques from both 3D and 2D visualizations. Specifically, it utilizes a multi-view visualization strategy including a small multiples view of motion sequences, a parallel coordinates view, and detailed 3D inspection views. The resulting framework follows an overview first, zoom and filter, then details-on-demand style of analysis, and it explicitly targets a limitation of current tools, namely, supporting analysis and comparison at the level of a collection of motions rather than sequential analysis of a single or small number of motions. Scientific motion collections appropriate for this style of analysis exist in clinical work in orthopedics and physical rehabilitation, in the study of functional morphology within evolutionary biology, and other contexts. An application is described based on a collaboration with evolutionary biologists studying the mechanics of chewing motions in pigs. Interactive exploration of data describing a collection of more than one hundred experimentally captured pig chewing cycles is described. Index Terms—Scientific visualization, information visualization, coordinated multiple views, biomechanics. 1

In interfaces that provide multiple visual information resolutions (VIR), low-VIR overviews typically sacrifice visual details for display capacity, with the assumption that users can select regions of interest to examine at higher VIRs. Designers can create low VIRs based on multi-level structure inherent in the data, but have little guidance with single-level data. To better guide design tradeoff between display capacity and visual target perceivability, we looked at overview use in two multiple-VIR interfaces with high-VIR displays either embedded within, or separate from, the overviews. We studied two visual requirements for effective overview and found that participants would reliably use the low-VIR overviews only when the visual targets were simple and had small visual spans. Otherwise, at least 20 % chose to use the high-VIR view exclusively. Surprisingly, neither of the multiple-VIR interfaces provided performance benefits when compared to using the high-VIR view alone. However, we did observe benefits in providing side-by-side comparisons for target matching. We conjecture that the high cognitive load of multiple-VIR interface interactions, whether real or perceived, is a more considerable barrier to their effective use than was previously considered.