Temporal Event Sequence Simplification
01 Dec 2013-IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE)-Vol. 19, Iss: 12, pp 2227-2236
TL;DR: This paper presents a series of user-driven data simplifications that allow researchers to pare event records down to their core elements, and presents a novel metric for measuring visual complexity, and a language for codifying disjoint strategies into an overarching simplification framework.
Abstract: Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have emerged as a cost-effective data source for conducting medical research. The difficulty in using EHRs for research purposes, however, is that both patient selection and record analysis must be conducted across very large, and typically very noisy datasets. Our previous work introduced EventFlow, a visualization tool that transforms an entire dataset of temporal event records into an aggregated display, allowing researchers to analyze population-level patterns and trends. As datasets become larger and more varied, however, it becomes increasingly difficult to provide a succinct, summarizing display. This paper presents a series of user-driven data simplifications that allow researchers to pare event records down to their core elements. Furthermore, we present a novel metric for measuring visual complexity, and a language for codifying disjoint strategies into an overarching simplification framework. These simplifications were used by real-world researchers to gain new and valuable insights from initially overwhelming datasets.
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21 Apr 2018
TL;DR: In this paper, a task-level analysis revealed that workers earn a median hourly wage of only ~$2/h, and only 4% earned more than $7.25/h.
Abstract: A growing number of people are working as part of on-line crowd work. Crowd work is often thought to be low wage work. However, we know little about the wage distribution in practice and what causes low/high earnings in this setting. We recorded 2,676 workers performing 3.8 million tasks on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Our task-level analysis revealed that workers earned a median hourly wage of only ~$2/h, and only 4% earned more than $7.25/h. While the average requester pays more than $11/h, lower-paying requesters post much more work. Our wage calculations are influenced by how unpaid work is accounted for, e.g., time spent searching for tasks, working on tasks that are rejected, and working on tasks that are ultimately not submitted. We further explore the characteristics of tasks and working patterns that yield higher hourly wages. Our analysis informs platform design and worker tools to create a more positive future for crowd work.
293 citations
TL;DR: This paper presents an alternative workflow, progressive visual analytics, which enables an analyst to inspect partial results of an algorithm as they become available and interact with the algorithm to prioritize subspaces of interest.
Abstract: As datasets grow and analytic algorithms become more complex, the typical workflow of analysts launching an analytic, waiting for it to complete, inspecting the results, and then re-Iaunching the computation with adjusted parameters is not realistic for many real-world tasks. This paper presents an alternative workflow, progressive visual analytics, which enables an analyst to inspect partial results of an algorithm as they become available and interact with the algorithm to prioritize subspaces of interest. Progressive visual analytics depends on adapting analytical algorithms to produce meaningful partial results and enable analyst intervention without sacrificing computational speed. The paradigm also depends on adapting information visualization techniques to incorporate the constantly refining results without overwhelming analysts and provide interactions to support an analyst directing the analytic. The contributions of this paper include: a description of the progressive visual analytics paradigm; design goals for both the algorithms and visualizations in progressive visual analytics systems; an example progressive visual analytics system (Progressive Insights) for analyzing common patterns in a collection of event sequences; and an evaluation of Progressive Insights and the progressive visual analytics paradigm by clinical researchers analyzing electronic medical records.
203 citations
Cites background from "Temporal Event Sequence Simplificat..."
...In the following sections, we describe the key design requirements and enumerate a set of concrete design goals....
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TL;DR: The study results demonstrate that DecisionFlow enables the quick and accurate completion of a range of sequence analysis tasks for datasets containing thousands of event types and millions of individual events.
Abstract: Temporal event sequence data is increasingly commonplace, with applications ranging from electronic medical records to financial transactions to social media activity. Previously developed techniques have focused on low-dimensional datasets (e.g., with less than 20 distinct event types). Real-world datasets are often far more complex. This paper describes DecisionFlow, a visual analysis technique designed to support the analysis of high-dimensional temporal event sequence data (e.g., thousands of event types). DecisionFlow combines a scalable and dynamic temporal event data structure with interactive multi-view visualizations and ad hoc statistical analytics. We provide a detailed review of our methods, and present the results from a 12-person user study. The study results demonstrate that DecisionFlow enables the quick and accurate completion of a range of sequence analysis tasks for datasets containing thousands of event types and millions of individual events.
165 citations
Cites methods from "Temporal Event Sequence Simplificat..."
...Approaches include event filtering, graph simplification [31], and pattern-based substitution [17]....
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...A more flexible substitution-based approach was proposed by Monroe et al [17]....
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Posted Content•
TL;DR: The characteristics of tasks and working patterns that yield higher hourly wages are explored, and platform design and worker tools are informed to create a more positive future for crowd work.
Abstract: A growing number of people are working as part of on-line crowd work, which has been characterized by its low wages; yet, we know little about wage distribution and causes of low/high earnings. We recorded 2,676 workers performing 3.8 million tasks on Amazon Mechanical Turk. Our task-level analysis revealed that workers earned a median hourly wage of only ~\$2/h, and only 4% earned more than \$7.25/h. The average requester pays more than \$11/h, although lower-paying requesters post much more work. Our wage calculations are influenced by how unpaid work is included in our wage calculations, e.g., time spent searching for tasks, working on tasks that are rejected, and working on tasks that are ultimately not submitted. We further explore the characteristics of tasks and working patterns that yield higher hourly wages. Our analysis informs future platform design and worker tools to create a more positive future for crowd work.
154 citations
Cites methods from "Temporal Event Sequence Simplificat..."
...[50] that groups a series of temporally close time intervals into clusters using an interval threshold, D....
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TL;DR: A design space for storytelling with timelines that balances expressiveness and effectiveness is presented, identifying 14 design choices characterized by three dimensions: representation, scale, and layout that are viable timeline designs that can be matched to different narrative points.
Abstract: There are many ways to visualize event sequences as timelines . In a storytelling context where the intent is to convey multiple narrative points, a richer set of timeline designs may be more appropriate than the narrow range that has been used for exploratory data analysis by the research community. Informed by a survey of 263 timelines, we present a design space for storytelling with timelines that balances expressiveness and effectiveness, identifying 14 design choices characterized by three dimensions: representation, scale, and layout. Twenty combinations of these choices are viable timeline designs that can be matched to different narrative points, while smooth animated transitions between narrative points allow for the presentation of a cohesive story, an important aspect of both interactive storytelling and data videos. We further validate this design space by realizing the full set of viable timeline designs and transitions in a proof-of-concept sandbox implementation that we used to produce seven example timeline stories. Ultimately, this work is intended to inform and inspire the design of future tools for storytelling with timelines.
142 citations
Cites background from "Temporal Event Sequence Simplificat..."
...Examples: visualization tools that align patient hospitalization timelines to the time when a patient is admitted to the hospital [31], [34], [37], which allow for comparisons of different patients’ experiences; timelines such as those depicting the creative output of directors, musicians, and novelists [70], or relative timelines of Google search trends in response to recent terrorist attacks [71]....
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...Many research tools address use cases where an analyst must sift through raw data containing thousands of events, and thus make use of some form of visual aggregation or clustering [36], [37]....
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References
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Book•
04 Feb 2000TL;DR: The art and science of why the authors see objects the way they do are explored, and the author presents the key principles at work for a wide range of applications--resulting in visualization of improved clarity, utility, and persuasiveness.
Abstract: Most designers know that yellow text presented against a blue background reads clearly and easily, but how many can explain why, and what really are the best ways to help others and ourselves clearly see key patterns in a bunch of data? When we use software, access a website, or view business or scientific graphics, our understanding is greatly enhanced or impeded by the way the information is presented.
This book explores the art and science of why we see objects the way we do. Based on the science of perception and vision, the author presents the key principles at work for a wide range of applications--resulting in visualization of improved clarity, utility, and persuasiveness. The book offers practical guidelines that can be applied by anyone: interaction designers, graphic designers of all kinds (including web designers), data miners, and financial analysts.
Complete update of the recognized source in industry, research, and academic for applicable guidance on information visualizing.
Includes the latest research and state of the art information on multimedia presentation.
More than 160 explicit design guidelines based on vision science.
A new final chapter that explains the process of visual thinking and how visualizations help us to think about problems.
Packed with over 400 informative full color illustrations, which are key to understanding of the subject.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Foundations for an Applied Science of Data Visualization
Chapter 2. The Environment, Optics, Resolution, and the Display
Chapter 3. Lightness, Brightness, Contrast and Constancy
Chapter 4. Color
Chapter 5. Visual Salience and Finding Information
Chapter 6. Static and Moving Patterns
Chapter 7. Space Perception
Chapter 8. Visual Objects and Data Objects
Chapter 9. Images, Narrative, and Gestures for Explanation
Chapter 10. Interacting with Visualizations
Chapter 11. Visual Thinking Processes
3,837 citations
"Temporal Event Sequence Simplificat..." refers background in this paper
...Filtering keeps control in the users’ hands, allowing them to remove events and records based on preexisting attributes....
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TL;DR: Med sin høye kompetanse innen informasjonsgrafikk blir Edward Tufte i dag sett på som en av de fremste pioneerene innen faget, og han har blitt tildelt over 40 priser for sine verker.
Abstract: The visual display of quantitative information , The visual display of quantitative information , مرکز فناوری اطلاعات و اطلاع رسانی کشاورزی
2,550 citations
"Temporal Event Sequence Simplificat..." refers background in this paper
...Finally, even when these methods achieve an effective grouping, the problem remains of generating a meaningful display from which inter-record hypotheses can be confirmed or refuted....
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Book•
15 Aug 20142,228 citations
"Temporal Event Sequence Simplificat..." refers background in this paper
...Finally, even when these methods achieve an effective grouping, the problem remains of generating a meaningful display from which inter-record hypotheses can be confirmed or refuted....
[...]
TL;DR: A representation of events and action based on interval temporal logic that is significantly more expressive and more natural than most previous AI approaches is presented.
Abstract: We present a representation of events and action based on interval temporal logic that is significantly more expressive and more natural than most previous AI approaches. The representation is motivated by work in natural language semantics and discourse, temporal logic, and AI planning and plan recognition. The formal basis of the representation is presented in detail, from the axiomatization of time periods to the relationship between actions and events and their effects. The power of the representation is illustrated by applying it to the axiomatization and solution of several standard problems from the AI literature on action and change. An approach to the frame problem based on explanation closure is shown to be both powerful and natural when combined with our representational framework. We also discuss features of the logic that are beyond the scope of many traditional representations, and describe our approach to difficult problems such as external events and simultaneous actions.
713 citations
TL;DR: This paper reflects on the combined experience of conducting twenty-one design studies, conducts an extensive literature survey of related methodological approaches that involve a significant amount of qualitative field work, and compares design study methodology to that of ethnography, grounded theory, and action research.
Abstract: Design studies are an increasingly popular form of problem-driven visualization research, yet there is little guidance available about how to do them effectively. In this paper we reflect on our combined experience of conducting twenty-one design studies, as well as reading and reviewing many more, and on an extensive literature review of other field work methods and methodologies. Based on this foundation we provide definitions, propose a methodological framework, and provide practical guidance for conducting design studies. We define a design study as a project in which visualization researchers analyze a specific real-world problem faced by domain experts, design a visualization system that supports solving this problem, validate the design, and reflect about lessons learned in order to refine visualization design guidelines. We characterize two axes - a task clarity axis from fuzzy to crisp and an information location axis from the domain expert's head to the computer - and use these axes to reason about design study contributions, their suitability, and uniqueness from other approaches. The proposed methodological framework consists of 9 stages: learn, winnow, cast, discover, design, implement, deploy, reflect, and write. For each stage we provide practical guidance and outline potential pitfalls. We also conducted an extensive literature survey of related methodological approaches that involve a significant amount of qualitative field work, and compare design study methodology to that of ethnography, grounded theory, and action research.
704 citations
"Temporal Event Sequence Simplificat..." refers background in this paper
...Index Terms—Event sequences, simplification, electronic heath records, temporal query....
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