Abstract:
While the formal evaluation of systems in visual analytics is still
relatively uncommon, particularly rare are case studies of prolonged system
use by domain analysts working with their own data. Conducting case studies
can be challenging, but it can be a particularly effective way to examine
whether visual analytics systems are truly helping expert users to accomplish
their goals. We studied the use of a visual analytics system for sensemaking
tasks on documents by six analysts from a variety of domains. We describe
their application of the system along with the benefits, issues, and problems
that we uncovered. Findings from the studies identify features that visual
analytics systems should emphasize as well as missing capabilities that
should be addre ssed. These findings inform design implications for future
systems.