Information Visualization and Usability: Tools for Human Comprehension

Information Visualization and Usability: Tools for Human Comprehension Ángel Vizoso Universidade de Santiago de Compostela ange[email protected] Accepted version of the chapter published by Springer How to cite: Vizoso, Á. (2020). Information Visualization and Usability: Tools for Human Comprehension. In: Vázquez-Herrero, J., Direito-Rebollal, S., Silva-Rodríguez, A., López-García, X. (eds) Journalistic Metamorphosis. Studies in Big Data, vol 70. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36315-4_7 2 Information Visualization and Usability: Tools for Human Comprehension Ángel Vizoso Universidade de Santiago de Compostela ange[email protected] Abstract. This chapter makes a review on the progress of two growing areas in the field of communication: information visualization and usability. Information visualization has experimented a lot of changes during the last few years, especially with its arrival to the Internet and the development of different narrative forms by taking advantage of the main characteristics of the new environment. Something similar has occurred with the concept of usability. The following sections explore the significance of this young idea whose spread took place especially with the start of the Internet. With the objective of completing this theoretical framework, a small usability test was conducted with five renowned visualizations. The results of this test show that even the most salient journals do not fulfill many of the main usability recommendations. Hence, this area still has a considerable way to go regarding its appliance to information visualization. Keywords: information visualization; usability; infographics; user-centered design 1 Milestones and development of information visualization Information visualization has been one of the areas with a major development in the field of communication. Its main goal is the presentation of information and data in a comprehensive and orderly way (Uyan Dur 2014). Thus, this discipline can be defined as “the representation and presentation of both data and information that takes advantage of our visual capability in order to expand our knowledge” (Alcalde 2015: 20). Likewise, it is “the use of visual representations to explore, make sense of, and communicate data” (Few 2014: 2). As noted through these definitions, there have been many efforts to define and delimit the area, and most of them highlight the power of information visualization as a communicative tool for the knowledge enrichment (Olmeda-Gómez 2014). 3 When talking about information visualization we are analysing a booming area, especially in journalism. Thus, it is not a new area or an exclusive communicative tool of our days (Figueiras 2014). It is possible to find antecedents of this visual genre in books like William Playfair’s The Commercial and Political Atlas and Statistical Breviary published in 1786 and 1801 respectively. As pointed out by Cairo (2008), these books contain the first examples of bar, line and pie charts. A few years later, in 1854, it is possible to find another great milestone in the development of information visualization. The British doctor John Snow showed the geographical spread of more than five hundred deaths due to cholera during ten days in the Soho district, London. Snow’s map combines two datasets. First of all, the number and location of the cholera deaths and, secondly, the water sources location. Hence, thanks to this map it is possible to find out the relation among the deceases and the contamination of some water sources in the neighbourhood. Edward Tufte highlighted the importance John Snow’s contribution by opening a new way of providing “direct and powerful testimony about a possible cause-effect relationship” (1997: 6). Less than a decade later, the French engineer Charles Joseph Minard published one of the most iconic visualizations ever, a chart of the losses of Napoleon’s army during its Russian Campaign (1812-1813). Minard’s chart shows the development of different variables: “the size of the army, its location on a two-dimensional surface, the direction of the army’s movement and temperature in various dates during the retreat from Moscow” (Tufte 2001: 40). All of that in a very visual chart which reflects the regression of Napoleon’s army both during its advance towards Moscow first and its withdrawal then. Although the examples previously noted are considered a key part of the development of information visualization, they were not published by the press, at least, initially. It exists a deep debate among some scholars about the start of press infographics. Thus, many of them consider that the description of Admiral Vernon’s attack to Portobello’s bay is the first example of infographics available in the printed press (Sullivan 1987 in Franco 2005). It was published by the Daily Post on the 29th of March 1740. However, it exists broad agreement among scholars in identifying the graphic published by the British diary The Times on the 7th of April 1806 about Isaac Blight’s homicide as the first example of infographics in press (Peltzer 1991). This graphic contains a draw of the view of Mr. Blight’s house as well as a plan of its inside with an explanation of the itinerary followed by its murders (Cairo 2008). 4 However, information visualization experts tend to coincide in highlighting the launching of the newspaper USA Today as one of the main milestones in the development of this field. Launched in September 1982, USA Today changed the way in which press journalism was produced by introducing a new design idea based on the use of colour instead black and white, an increase in the use of images and a clear commitment in the use of infographics (Lallana 1999). After the emergence of this journal, some global events like, for instance, the Gulf War and the difficulties for accessing audiovisual materials during its course, had a great influence in the development of this genre. The media tried to soft the shortage of videos and pictures of this conflict by using visualizations to explain both the development of the war as well as the weapons and materials used by the armies. 1.1 From printed to interactive infographics As pointed out before, information visualization has its origin in many works related with disciplines like economics or demographics. Then, the genre reached a new characterization with its adoption by the media and, more concretely, by the printed press. This integration resulted in the development of printed infographics, a particular way of informative communication which can be defined like “an informative contribution based on both iconic and typographic elements, which allows the comprehension of facts, actions or current topics or, at least, some of their main aspects by accompanying or replacing an informative text” (Valero-Sancho 2001: 21). Following Cairo (2008), infographics are not an ornamental object with the objective of make the pages of the newspaper more light, dynamic or colourful. It has to work as a tool for the reality analysis improving readers’ comprehension. Through these two definitions it is possible to assess two ideas. Firstly, the nature of infographics as a journalistic genre, similarly to others like reports or interviews. Secondly, the power of infographics as a vehicle for information transmission. Moreover, concerning its production, it has experimented an evolution during the last two decades. Nowadays infographics are increasingly the result of the work of journalists with design and data management abilities while, in the past, it was produced by artists who adapted its know-how to the needs of journalism (Cairo 2017). 5 The advance of infographics since the 90s has been continuous, as noted before. All of that thanks to the inclusion of new visual forms and technological tools which have allowed the adaptation and improvement of this genre. In addition, these changes have led into the birth of a new form of visualization, multimedia infographics, considered a completely new communicative form by many scholars (Arévalo 2009). Wibke Weber, defines an interactive information graphic as “a visual representation of information that integrates different nodes into a coherent whole and offers at least one navigation option to control the graphic” (2013: 11). The youth of the use of this genre by the online media has provoked the emergence of a wide range of ways to name it. Thus, leveraging its characteristics –multimedia, hypertext, and interactivity–, a lot of nomenclatures have emerged. Some of them are, for instance: digital infographics (Pinto Rodrigues 2012), online infographics (Nogueira 2018), interactive infographics (Dick 2013), or multimedia infographics (Salaverría and Cores 2005). Another ones are data visualization (Iliinsky 2012) or information visualization (Anderson 2017). However, it exists a deep debate among scholars. While some of them consider that infographics are a subdiscipline of information visualization, others think that both infographics and information visualization are part of the same reality. Despite these diverse ways to name it, which is undeniable is that multimedia infographics have experimented a huge advance in the last few years. This advance has its explanation in the fact that, while printed infographics do not rely on a close connection with technology, multimedia does. Thus, it is possible to notice different stages in the development of multimedia infographics which, following Gomes-Amaral (2010), are: • Content replication. It was the initial stage of the publication of infographics online. Therein, newspapers replicated the same content published before on their printed version without any interactivity or multimedia capability. • Addition of certain interactivity. The second stage was marked by the integration of a certain level of interactivity in the infographic pieces previously published in the printed edition of the media. • Inclusion and combination of multimedia elements. The main characteristic of this third stage is the use of audio, video, text, images and hyperlinks in a product conceived for its publication online. 6 • Data based infographics. Visualizations linked to a database with real-time updating. This fourth stage allows the highest level of personalization and exploration for the reason that each individual use can refer to a specific part of the data in order to obtain an individual and exclusive experience. Hence, when talking about infographics –both printed and multimedia– we are talking about a flexible and efficient journalistic genre and communicative tool which can be a complement for the information or present it autonomously (Zwinger and Zeiller 2016). In addition, infographics have demonstrated its capability to deal with data from many disciplines, and it is the reason why its use is becoming more frequent in disciplines like art (Li 2018) or economy (Gatto 2015). Although the development of information visualization was steady during the last twenty years, further challenges have emerged during the last decade. The onset of new devices like mobile phones or tablets provoked new needs in the production of news graphics, especially the journalistic ones. Journalists, designers and programmers who carry out the task of data extraction and content production for these news products have now the need of adapting its visual appearance and its functions to these different ways of consumption. Hence, concepts like responsive design or usability play now a central role when producing information visualization. 2 The concept of usability and its relevance for information visualization Usability has been defined by the Intarnational Organization for Standardization (ISO) as “the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use” (International Organization for Standardization 2018: 15). Although this agency opens its definition to all products, the historical development of the concept has been centered mainly in computing tools in both software –computer programs, video games or, more recently, mobile apps–, and hardware sides–computers in its different variants, mobile phones or tablets among other devices–. In 1993 Jakob Nielsen talked about the growing importance of user interfaces in the computing of that time. Nielsen pointed out that the changes in the use of computers – from specialized users to the popularization of these machines– lead to the need of “making life easier for the user” (Nielsen 1993: 8). Hence, in the last years the concept 7 of usability is more related with realities like the “learning agility and the ease of use of a product” (Rache et al. 2014: 180) and linked very closely to the idea of the user-centered design (UCD) where one of the main focus when producing a technological product is the capability to adapt it to the final user (Mayhew 1999). Regarding this idea, Nielsen (1993: 26) established five attributes to usability: • Learnability. Systems should be easy to learn in order to make possible a quick adaptation of the user. • Efficiency. This attribute refers to the ease of learning how the product works in order to increase users’ knowledge. • Memorability. This characteristic points out the need of making systems whose use would be easy to remember. Thus, when users come back after a certain period of time without using it, it would not be necessary to learn how it works. • Low error rate. Errors should not appear or, at least, their appearance should be scarce. Therefore, the system should be capable of recovering itself from an error. • Satisfaction. Nielsen pointed out that systems should be pleasant to use, a feature that would lead the users to a major satisfaction. As it is foreseeable, the major development of both the theory about this concept and the design of interfaces and devices with the most recommended usability criteria has been taking place from the beginning of the Internet, democratisation of computers and, in the last few years, mobile phones (Souza and Maciel 2018). 2.1 The challenges of usability evaluation In the communicative context of our days, “users are surrounded by a broad range of networked interaction devices” (Yigitbas et al 2018: 231). This fact has provoked a lot of changes in the production of communicative products and tools. However, one of these changes stands out among the others: the user has become a central part in the designing process. This phenomenon is what experts call the user-centered design, “an iterative design process in which designers focus on the users and their needs in each phase of the design process” (Interaction Design Foundation 2019: 1). Hence, at the present time, those professionals who produce tools and products both in the area of communication or in other ones have to put the final users in the middle of their projects in order to provide them with efficient and attractive experiences. 8 In the course of this designing process as well as after its launching, both these teams and some outside bodies conduct different usability tests and experiments. These evaluations are used to assess the efficacy and the pertinence of both the products and the techniques employed in its production and can be performed in different ways. For instance, Rache, Lespinet-Najib and Andre (2014) explained the existence of two types of methods for the evaluation of usability. First of all, there would be techniques where the presence and participation of the users are needed. These could be: • User testing. In this method, the users are required to interact with the interface in both free and directed navigation. • Card sorting. Researchers present different cards to the users. They are required to group them in different categories relevant for them for, finally, naming these categories. • Interviews. These could be directed, semi-structured or non-directional. All these three types have the objective of knowing user’s perceptions on the use of a product. • Questionnaire. It exists some pre-determined and standardized questionnaires like the Website Analytics Measurement Inventory (WAMMI) or the Usability Measurement Inventory Software (SUMI). • Creativity methods. Example of these techniques could be brainstorming or association of ideas, among others. • Critical incident. Qualitative interview where the interviewed user identifies different events. The person highlights these events, how they evolved and their impact and consequences. • Observation. In this method, researchers are observers of the normal performing of users’ activities. These authors noticed that another possibility is the use of techniques where the presence of the user is not required. These methods are performed only by researchers or experts which can notice the usability particularities of any product by using different procedures: • Heuristic analysis. Inspection of the interface with the objective of detecting the positive and negative aspects of its usability. • Cognitive walk-through. Simulation of the user’s cognitive behaviour. The authors identified three phases in the implementation of this method: (1) definition of the 9 scenario and the aims of the study; (2) evaluation phase with questions for each task performed; (3) identification of any possible usability problem by using the answers given to the previous questions. • Personas. Analysis of both the needs and profiles of the potential users of a product with the objective of creating fictional characters. Then, designers can refer to these profiles when producing a new interface. • Automated evaluation. Use of algorithms for the automatic analysis of the quality of the presentation. • Evaluation by expertise. Identification of any usability problem by an expert or a group of experts. • Analysis of documents and reports. Review of documentation from diverse sources. With the use of this method, researchers can make their own judgements on different products. • Creativity methods. As previously noted, this method involves the utilization of brainstorming or the association of ideas and it is valid for research in both the presence and the absence of the users. 3 Method To complete the theoretical approach presented in this chapter with an empirical experience, a small heuristic usability test was conducted in order to see if some of the most recognized visualizations published in the last few years fulfill the main usability criteria set by different authors. To reach this objective, an analysis card used by de Oliveira and Guimarães (2017) adapted by selecting twenty of the items contained on it. It is necessary to point out that these authors reviewed previous research in order to set up this tool. It is necessary to note that there are different methods for usability evaluation as pointed out by Rache, Lespinet-Najib and Andre (2014). Then, five visualizations were chosen. These multimedia infographic examples were awarded in the Malofiej Awards’ Best of Show – Online from 2015 to 2019. After its identification, the analysis card was applied to these items in an heuristic analysis in order to compare the presence of the chosen criteria in these renowned works. The twenty elements reviewed in this analysis card are listed in the Table 1 and were scored from 0 to 5 points. Thus, each visualization could obtain an overall score from 0 to 100 in fulfilling the stablished items. 16 reached the highest rates in areas like considering people with colour blindness or the ease of its comprehension by any user, all those categories related with the level of details provided or the control options available for users had low scores. Then, watching these results, it is possible to notice that this visualization was envisaged with a supplementary and visual function, not as the main way for displaying the information. 5 Conclusions In sum, the aim of this chapter was to highlight the growing importance of usability in the present context of information visualization. As noted in the previous sections, information visualization has been one of the journalistic genres with a major development since the 1990s decade. Especially with the arrival of the Internet, this way of communication has explored new narrative forms and capabilities. However, in this context, usability and efficiency criteria play now a central role. As stated, information visualization teams have to pay more attention than ever to this side of the development. Here, journalists, designers and programmers try to make visualizations where efficiency, attractive and informative relevance have to be present in one single product. To prove how important is following usability patterns in nowadays’ journalism, a small usability test was conducted. This brief experiment has allowed us to appreciate some of the weaknesses and strengths of high-renowned visualization works in order to highlight the importance of considering as much usability criteria as possible when producing informative pieces like these. Acknowledgments This chapter is prepared within the framework of the project “Digital native media in Spain: storytelling formats and mobile strategy” (RTI2018-093346-B- C33), from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Government of Spain). The project is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This text is also prepared as part of the activities of Novos Medios Research Group (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, GI-1641), supported by the programme “Consolidation and Structuration of Competitive Research Units” of the Galician Regional Government (ED431B 2017/48). 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