Extending adjacency matrices to 3D with triangles

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Pan, Rusheng, Purchase, Helen C, Dwyer, Tim, Chen, Wei
• Format: Paper Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 20.02.2024
• Subjects: Computer Science - Human-Computer Interaction; Computer Science - Social and Information Networks; Interactive systems; Social networks
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2306.07588

Social networks are the fabric of society and the subject of frequent visual analysis. Closed triads represent triangular relationships between three people in a social network and are significant for understanding inherent interconnections and influence within the network. The most common methods for representing social networks (node-link diagrams and adjacency matrices) are not optimal for understanding triangles. We propose extending the adjacency matrix form to 3D for better visualization of network triads. We design a 3D matrix reordering technique and implement an immersive interactive system to assist in visualizing and analyzing closed triads in social networks. A user study and usage scenarios demonstrate that our method provides substantial added value over node-link diagrams in improving the efficiency and accuracy of manipulating and understanding the social network triads.