“Whoa! we’re going deep in the trees!”: patterns of collaboration around an interactive information visualization exhibit

In this paper we present a qualitative analysis of natural history museum visitor interaction around a multi-touch tabletop exhibit called DeepTree that we designed around concepts of evolution and common descent. DeepTree combines several large scientific datasets and an innovative visualization te...

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Main Authors: Davis, Pryce, Horn, Michael S., Block, Florian, Phillips, Brenda, Evans, E. Margaret, Diamond, Judy, Shen, Chia
Format: Article
Published: Springer 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46167/
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author Davis, Pryce
Horn, Michael S.
Block, Florian
Phillips, Brenda
Evans, E. Margaret
Diamond, Judy
Shen, Chia
author_facet Davis, Pryce
Horn, Michael S.
Block, Florian
Phillips, Brenda
Evans, E. Margaret
Diamond, Judy
Shen, Chia
author_sort Davis, Pryce
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description In this paper we present a qualitative analysis of natural history museum visitor interaction around a multi-touch tabletop exhibit called DeepTree that we designed around concepts of evolution and common descent. DeepTree combines several large scientific datasets and an innovative visualization technique to display a phylogenetic tree of life consisting of over 70,000 species. After describing our design, we present a study involving pairs of children interacting with DeepTree in two natural history museums. Our analysis focuses on two questions. First, how do dyads negotiate their moment-to-moment exploration of the exhibit? Second, how do dyads develop and negotiate their understanding of evolutionary concepts? In order to address these questions we present an analytical framework that describes dyads’ exploration along two dimensions: coordination and target of action. This framework reveals four distinct patterns of interaction, which, we argue, are relevant for similar interactive designs. We conclude with a discussion of the role of design in helping visitors make sense of interactive experiences involving the visualization of large scientific datasets.
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spelling nottingham-461672020-05-04T17:05:05Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46167/ “Whoa! we’re going deep in the trees!”: patterns of collaboration around an interactive information visualization exhibit Davis, Pryce Horn, Michael S. Block, Florian Phillips, Brenda Evans, E. Margaret Diamond, Judy Shen, Chia In this paper we present a qualitative analysis of natural history museum visitor interaction around a multi-touch tabletop exhibit called DeepTree that we designed around concepts of evolution and common descent. DeepTree combines several large scientific datasets and an innovative visualization technique to display a phylogenetic tree of life consisting of over 70,000 species. After describing our design, we present a study involving pairs of children interacting with DeepTree in two natural history museums. Our analysis focuses on two questions. First, how do dyads negotiate their moment-to-moment exploration of the exhibit? Second, how do dyads develop and negotiate their understanding of evolutionary concepts? In order to address these questions we present an analytical framework that describes dyads’ exploration along two dimensions: coordination and target of action. This framework reveals four distinct patterns of interaction, which, we argue, are relevant for similar interactive designs. We conclude with a discussion of the role of design in helping visitors make sense of interactive experiences involving the visualization of large scientific datasets. Springer 2015-03-04 Article PeerReviewed Davis, Pryce, Horn, Michael S., Block, Florian, Phillips, Brenda, Evans, E. Margaret, Diamond, Judy and Shen, Chia (2015) “Whoa! we’re going deep in the trees!”: patterns of collaboration around an interactive information visualization exhibit. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 10 (1). pp. 53-76. ISSN 1556-1615 Learning Collaboration Evolution Interactive tabletops Information visualization https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11412-015-9209-z doi:10.1007/s11412-015-9209-z doi:10.1007/s11412-015-9209-z
spellingShingle Learning
Collaboration
Evolution
Interactive tabletops
Information visualization
Davis, Pryce
Horn, Michael S.
Block, Florian
Phillips, Brenda
Evans, E. Margaret
Diamond, Judy
Shen, Chia
“Whoa! we’re going deep in the trees!”: patterns of collaboration around an interactive information visualization exhibit
title “Whoa! we’re going deep in the trees!”: patterns of collaboration around an interactive information visualization exhibit
title_full “Whoa! we’re going deep in the trees!”: patterns of collaboration around an interactive information visualization exhibit
title_fullStr “Whoa! we’re going deep in the trees!”: patterns of collaboration around an interactive information visualization exhibit
title_full_unstemmed “Whoa! we’re going deep in the trees!”: patterns of collaboration around an interactive information visualization exhibit
title_short “Whoa! we’re going deep in the trees!”: patterns of collaboration around an interactive information visualization exhibit
title_sort “whoa! we’re going deep in the trees!”: patterns of collaboration around an interactive information visualization exhibit
topic Learning
Collaboration
Evolution
Interactive tabletops
Information visualization
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46167/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46167/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46167/