Integrating Implicit Structure Visualization with Authoring Promotes Ideation

摘要

We need to harness the growing wealth of information in digital libraries to support intellectual work involving creative and exploratory processes. Prior research on hypertext authoring shifted the focus from explicit structure to direct presentation of content aided by "implicit" spatial representation of structure. We likewise shift the field of information visualization. Using hypertext's rubric, we redefine what most people think of as "information visualization" as explicit structure visualization. We alternatively address implicit structure visualization, presenting content directly, representing structure with spatiality and other visual features. We integrate authoring to emphasize the role of human thought in learning and ideation. Prior research has shown that people iteratively collect and organize information by clipping magazines, piling clippings in somewhat messy ways, and organizing them. MessyOrganizer is an iterative implicit structure visualization algorithm which, like human practice, gradually collects and organizes information clippings. Content is depicted directly. Structural relationships are visualized implicitly through spatial positioning of related elements, with overlap and translucence. The simulated annealing algorithm is applied to a model of semantic relatedness over a spatial grid. We develop an experiment comparing products created with the integrated environment versus separated visualization and authoring spaces. Results reveal that participants have more novel and varied ideas when visualization is integrated with authoring.