Activity-Centered Domain Characterization for Problem-Driven Scientific Visualization

• Published in: IEEE transactions on visualization and computer graphics Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 913 - 922
• Main Author: Marai, G. Elisabeta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.01.2018; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Activity-centered design; Algorithms; Computational modeling; Computer Graphics; Data models; Data visualization; Design analysis; Design engineering; Design studies; Domain characterization; Functional specifications; Human computer interaction; Humans; Interviews; Quantitative analysis; Requirements analysis; Requirements engineering; Scientific visualization; Software; Software engineering; Tasks and requirements analysis; User-Computer Interface; Visual Perception - physiology; Visualization; Visualization models
• ISSN: 1077-2626; 1941-0506
• DOI: 10.1109/TVCG.2017.2744459

Although visualization design models exist in the literature in the form of higher-level methodological frameworks, these models do not present a clear methodological prescription for the domain characterization step. This work presents a framework and end-to-end model for requirements engineering in problem-driven visualization application design. The framework and model are based on the activity-centered design paradigm, which is an enhancement of human-centered design. The proposed activity-centered approach focuses on user tasks and activities, and allows an explicit link between the requirements engineering process with the abstraction stage - and its evaluation - of existing, higher-level visualization design models. In a departure from existing visualization design models, the resulting model: assigns value to a visualization based on user activities; ranks user tasks before the user data; partitions requirements in activity-related capabilities and nonfunctional characteristics and constraints; and explicitly incorporates the user workflows into the requirements process. A further merit of this model is its explicit integration of functional specifications, a concept this work adapts from the software engineering literature, into the visualization design nested model. A quantitative evaluation using two sets of interdisciplinary projects supports the merits of the activity-centered model. The result is a practical roadmap to the domain characterization step of visualization design for problem-driven data visualization. Following this domain characterization model can help remove a number of pitfalls that have been identified multiple times in the visualization design literature.