Visualising data in web observatories
Paul Booth, Wendy Hall, Nicholas M. Gibbins, Spyros Galanis · 2014
Web Observatories use innovative analytic processes to gather insights from observed data and use the Web as a platform for publishing interactive data visualisations. Recordable events associated with interactivity on the Web provide an opportunity to openly evaluate the utility of these artefacts, assessing fitness for purpose and observing their use. The three principles presented in this paper propose a community evaluation approach to innovation in visual analytics and visualisation for Web Observatories through code sharing, the capturing of semantically enriched interaction data and by openly stating the intended goals of all visualisation work. The potential of this approach is exampled with a set of front-end tools suitable for adoption by the majority of Web Observatories as a means of visualising data on the Web as part the shared, open, and community-driven developmental process. The paper outlines the method for capturing user interaction data as a series of semantic events, which can be used to identify improvements in both the structure and functionality of visualisations. Such refinements in user behaviour are proposed as part of a new methodology that introduces Economics as an evaluation tool for visual analytics.