Interpreting & communicating about computational models: using visual analytics as a bridge between policy makers and researchers Philippe J. Giabbanelli, PhD & Piper J. Jackson, PhD

Data acquisition and analysis Modelling Experimentation The modelling pipeline 1Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models Gimme your data! Reporting

Data acquisition and analysis Modelling Experimentation The modelling pipeline Reporting VA is increasingly used to make sense of data, e.g. via off-the-shelf software such as Tableau 2Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models

Data acquisition and analysis Modelling Experimentation The modelling pipeline 3 Reporting Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models

Data acquisition and analysis Modelling Experimentation The modelling pipeline 4 Reporting Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models

Data acquisition and analysis Modelling Experimentation The modelling pipeline 5 Reporting Conceptual modellingMathematical modellingComputational modelling Our contributions Identification of key elements and aspects, Hypothesizing (e.g., expected relations), and Assessing these hypotheses Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models

Visual analytics for conceptual modelling 6 Early Relationships were manually extracted from the document and organized as a map. Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models

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8 VA helps setting up the structure of the model by facilitating the identification of similar entities or missing connections. VA keeps stakeholders engaged in the modelling process by providing an interactive outline of the domain. Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models

Visual analytics for conceptual modelling 9 Intermediate March 2011: EmergenceEscalationEarly 2012: Militarisation Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models

10 VA allows the analyst to interactively explore the data and improve the conceptual model. A conceptual model guides the analyst in the exploration of the new data. Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models

Visual analytics for conceptual modelling 11 Final Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models

12 Motivating question: to which extent is this map supported by the interviews? Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models

13 We measured the strength of a relationship between two factors as the number of responses in the interviews that used words relevant to both factors. Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models

14 What VA solutions do we need to better bridge policymakers and researchers? Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models

There is already support for synchronous collaborations. That’s called « sit down and work together »… Developing the next VA tools to bridge the gap 15Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models

16 Both policymakers and researchers use VA to find patterns, make sense of their data… We need to know how everyone interprets what they see. What we need is support for asynchronous collaborations in VA. Developing the next VA tools to bridge the gap Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models

17 « directly associating commentary with specific states of the visualization will facilitate grounding by disambiguating the context of discussion » Developing the next VA tools to bridge the gap Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models

18 Our contribution We propose the 3I approach: intuitive interactive integrative The 3I approach requires a leap forward: only a few software packages currently satisfy fundamental aspects such as journaling or annotating. But these are important long-term research objectives: supporting the direct integration of visualizations, as well as the sharing of flexible visualizations. Developing the next VA tools to bridge the gap Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models

19Giabbanelli & JacksonInterpreting & communicating about computational models Want to discuss this further?