A Framework for Creative Visualization-Opportunities Workshops

Abstract

Applied visualization researchers often work closely with domain collaborators to explore new and useful applications of visualization. The early stages of collaborations are typically time consuming for all stakeholders as researchers piece together an understanding of domain challenges from disparate discussions and meetings. A number of recent projects, however, report on the use of creative visualization-opportunities (CVO) workshops to accelerate the early stages of applied work, eliciting a wealth of requirements in a few days of focused work. Yet, there is no established guidance for how to use such workshops effectively. In this paper, we present the results of a 2-year collaboration in which we analyzed the use of 17 workshops in 10 visualization contexts. Its primary contribution is a framework for CVO workshops that: 1) identifies a process model for using workshops; 2) describes a structure of what happens within effective workshops; 3) recommends 25 actionable guidelines for future workshops; and 4) presents an example workshop and workshop methods. The creation of this framework exemplifies the use of critical reflection to learn about visualization in practice from diverse studies and experience.

Criteria for Rigor in Visualization Design Study

“…Many perceptual, cognitive, and computational phenomena can be studied effectively through controlled, empirical studies where objectivity, repeatability, and prediction are valued and efforts are made to remove bias and error. Studying people and their considered, complex, contextualized, social reactions to dynamic settings often benefits instead from relativist approaches that involve subjective interpretation of qualitative data [30,57,61,63,107,108,113]. A key concern, however, is that work that is conducted from one position is judged from another [28].…”

“…We have known this engagement to help reveal meaningful contextual insights that can shape the design, at times in profound ways [43], as well as to provide nuanced insights into the situation under study [73]. Creative visualization-opportunity workshops [61] are a specific participatory method that can support multivocal abundance, which is the incorporation of multiple and varied voices in the design process to include viewpoints that diverge from those of the majority or with the researcher herself. These workshops also encourage an abundance of ideas for problems and solutions through rapid divergence exercises.…”

“…Using multiple forms of analysis with a diverse set of rich and reflexive observations strengthens the plausibility of general knowledge claims. A design study researcher might combine contextual interviews [58] with a workshop [61] to establish an initial understanding of a problem domain, using reflective transcriptions [73] to interpret the interviews and open-coding to analyze the outputs of the workshop. She might then ideate on possible visualization solutions through rapid prototyping of storyboards [44], refine her ideas based on feedback gathered through speed-dating [47], and reflexively develop a visualization software artifact using literate visualization [116].…”

VisualNeuro: A Hypothesis Formation and Reasoning Application for Multi‐Variate Brain Cohort Study Data

“…[GDJ*13] and Kerzner et al . [KGD*19]. Two of the participants were also participants in the previous phases, while the other participants were from three distinct new domains in neuroscience.…”

Halyos: A patient-facing visual EHR interface for longitudinal risk awareness

“…Pollen levels are taken from the Accuweather API (https://developer.accuweather.com/), air quality from IQAir (https://airvisual.com/api), and flu cases from Flu Near You by HealthMap [18] . This specific information was chosen to be included based on conclusions from the human-centered design workshop [19] .…”