Exploring the Placement and Design of Word-Scale Visualizations

Abstract

We present an exploration and a design space that characterize the usage and placement of word-scale visualizations within text documents. Word-scale visualizations are a more general version of sparklines--small, word-sized data graphics that allow meta-information to be visually presented in-line with document text. In accordance with Edward Tufte's definition, sparklines are traditionally placed directly before or after words in the text. We describe alternative placements that permit a wider range of word-scale graphics and more flexible integration with text layouts. These alternative placements include positioning visualizations between lines, within additional vertical and horizontal space in the document, and as interactive overlays on top of the text. Each strategy changes the dimensions of the space available to display the visualizations, as well as the degree to which the text must be adjusted or reflowed to accommodate them. We provide an illustrated design space of placement options for word-scale visualizations and identify six important variables that control the placement of the graphics and the level of disruption of the source text. We also contribute a quantitative analysis that highlights the effect of different placements on readability and text disruption. Finally, we use this analysis to propose guidelines to support the design and placement of word-scale visualizations.

Active Reading of Visualizations

“…The design of some of these digital text reading environments was informed by studies of active reading tasks [29,63]. Some have also suggested leveraging the digital environment to support new tasks, such as TextTearing to create space for annotations [73] or word-scale visualizations to allow cross-referencing within a text [22].…”

A Survey of Traffic Data Visualization

“…Text-based visualization techniques like TagCloud [86] and Wordle [87] can be employed to show a set of words. Some studies provide instructions on how to layout multiple labels on a 2D map effectively [88], [89].…”

Exploring the Effect of Word-Scale Visualizations on Reading Behavior

“…These visualizations display information associated with specific words in the text, and are a generalization of the more well-known term sparkline: "a small, intense, simple, word-sized graphic with typographic resolution" [11]. Word-scale visualizations can use a variety of visual encodings and can encompass a wider range of "word-scales", including sizes larger than a word, but usually smaller than a sentence or paragraph [7]. One of the most common application contexts for word-scale visualizations is text documents.…”

“…In our past work [7], we charted a design space of placement options for word-scale visualizations in text documents. We demonstrated how different placement options like placing visualizations between words or between lines of text can drastically affect the text layout.…”

“…It is possible that introducing word-scale visualizations above the entity in the interline space (Figure 1a), to the right of the entity (Figure 1b), or when using interaction to reveal a hidden word-scale visualization (Figure 1c) may impact reading behavior in different ways because they disrupt the text in very different ways. While prior work has described use cases for word-scale visualizations [7,11], it is not clear how their integration affects reading the text. In order to address this question, we conducted an initial study that examines how placing word-scale visualizations affects reading speed, retention, and whether readers tend to use information from the word-scale visualizations or the text.…”