Storyboarding for visual analytics

Walker, R; Cenydd, L; Pop, S; Miles, H; Hughes, CJ; Teahan, W; Roberts, J

Abstract

Analysts wish to explore different hypotheses, organize their thoughts into visual narratives and present their
findings. Some developers have used algorithms to ascertain key events from their data, while others have
visualized different states of their exploration and utilized free-form canvases to enable the users to develop
their thoughts. What is required is a visual layout strategy that summarizes specific events and allows users
to layout the story in a structured way. We propose the use of the concept of ‘storyboarding’ for visual analytics.
In film production, storyboarding techniques enable film directors and those working on the film to previsualize
the shots and evaluate potential problems. We present six principles of storyboarding for visual analytics:
composition, viewpoints, transition, annotability, interactivity and separability. We use these principles
to develop epSpread, which we apply to VAST Challenge 2011 microblogging data set and to Twitter data from
the 2012 Olympic Games. We present technical challenges and design decisions for developing the epSpread
storyboarding visual analytics tool that demonstrate the effectiveness of our design and discuss lessons
learnt with the storyboarding method.

Citation

Walker, R., Cenydd, L., Pop, S., Miles, H., Hughes, C., Teahan, W., & Roberts, J. (2015). Storyboarding for visual analytics. Information Visualization, 14(1), 27-50. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473871613487089

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: May 28, 2013
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jan 28, 2019
• Journal: Information Visualization
• Print ISSN: 1473-8716
• Electronic ISSN: 1473-8724
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 27-50
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1473871613487089
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/1473871613487089
• Related Public URLs: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ivi