Lotse: A Practical Framework for Guidance in Visual Analytics

Fabian Sperrle, Davide Ceneda, Mennatallah El-Assady

View presentation:2022-10-20T21:21:00ZGMT-0600Change your timezone on the schedule page
2022-10-20T21:21:00Z
Exemplar figure, described by caption below
We provide a library called Lotse that allows specifying guidance strategies in yaml definition files and generates running code from them. Lotse is the first guidance library to use such an approach. It supports the creation of reusable guidance strategies to retrofit existing applications with guidance and fosters the creation of general guidance strategy patterns. We demonstrated its effectiveness through first-use case studies with VA researchers of varying guidance design expertise and find that they are able to effectively and quickly implement guidance with Lotse.

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Abstract

Co-adaptive guidance aims to enable efficient human-machine collaboration in visual analytics, as proposed by multiple theoretical frameworks. This paper bridges the gap between such conceptual frameworks and practical implementation by introducing an accessible model of guidance and an accompanying guidance library, mapping theory into practice. We contribute a model of system-provided guidance based on design templates and derived strategies. We instantiate the model in a library called Lotse that allows specifying guidance strategies in definition files and generates running code from them. Lotse is the first guidance library using such an approach. It supports the creation of reusable guidance strategies to retrofit existing applications with guidance and fosters the creation of general guidance strategy patterns. We demonstrate its effectiveness through first-use case studies with VA researchers of varying guidance design expertise and find that they are able to effectively and quickly implement guidance with Lotse. Further, we analyze our framework's cognitive dimensions to evaluate its expressiveness and outline a summary of open research questions for aligning guidance practice with its intricate theory.