Interactive Visualizations for Biodiversity Information Bongshin Lee Researcher Visualization and Interaction Research Group Microsoft Research Bongshin Lee Researcher Visualization and Interaction Research Group Microsoft Research

Interactive Visualizations for Biodiversity Information Bongshin Lee Computer Science Department Human-Computer Interaction Lab University of Maryland Bongshin Lee Computer Science Department Human-Computer Interaction Lab University of Maryland

Why Interactive Visualization? Biodiversity databases have become widely available to the public and to other researchers Trees and graphs are commonly used information structures Animal classification, food webs, gene ontology, … Visual representations exploit human visual processing to reduce the cognitive load Better interactive tools are needed for visual data exploration Biodiversity databases have become widely available to the public and to other researchers Trees and graphs are commonly used information structures Animal classification, food webs, gene ontology, … Visual representations exploit human visual processing to reduce the cognitive load Better interactive tools are needed for visual data exploration

PaperLens TaxonTree NSF-funded project at UMD with - - Cyndy Parr - - Dana Campbell - - Ben Bederson

Biodiversity is the extraordinary variety of all life on Earth - from genes to species to entire ecosystems. -- Smithsonian Institution Monitoring and Assessment of Biodiversity Program

Challenge Complex databases Organism names Habitats Interactions Conservation status Reproductive parameters … Complex databases Organism names Habitats Interactions Conservation status Reproductive parameters … Non-expert users Policy makers Land-use planners Educators Students Laypersons …

TaxonTree - Visualizing the Taxonomic Hierarchy Hierarchy of 200,000 animal names Integration of public/private sources Extension of SpaceTree [Plaisant et al., InfoVis ’02] Interactive tree visualization Integrated searching and browsing Animation Hierarchy of 200,000 animal names Integration of public/private sources Extension of SpaceTree [Plaisant et al., InfoVis ’02] Interactive tree visualization Integrated searching and browsing Animation B. Lee, C.S. Parr, D. Campbell, B.B. Bederson (2004) How Users Interact with Biodiversity Information Using TaxonTree Proceedings of AVI 2004, pp C.S. Parr, B. Lee, D. Campbell, B.B. Bederson (2004) Visualizations for Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Trees Bioinformatics, Vol. 20, No. 17, pp

TaxonTree Design Collaborative design Target audience Undergraduates in biology class Transitioning from novice to expert Undergraduate design partners Domain-specific visualization Scaling up Collaborative design Target audience Undergraduates in biology class Transitioning from novice to expert Undergraduate design partners Domain-specific visualization Scaling up

TaxonTree Written in Java with Piccolo.Java Demo

TaxonTree Evaluation Qualitative study with 18 biology students Goals Characterize users of biodiversity domain Investigate usability and interaction preferences Examine information understanding Results Interaction with the tree is very intuitive Browse rather than search Make inferences using tree structure Interested users want more control over interaction Qualitative study with 18 biology students Goals Characterize users of biodiversity domain Investigate usability and interaction preferences Examine information understanding Results Interaction with the tree is very intuitive Browse rather than search Make inferences using tree structure Interested users want more control over interaction

Adopting TaxonTree Deployed for the public University of Michigan’s Animal Diversity Web (ADW), 60,000 visits/day Biologists love TaxonTree Phylogeny of Lepidoptera Project (LepTree), California Academy of Sciences’ AntWeb, Cyberinfrastructure for Phylogenetic Research (CIPRES), Science Environment for Ecological Knowledge (SEEK), Deployed for the public University of Michigan’s Animal Diversity Web (ADW), 60,000 visits/day Biologists love TaxonTree Phylogeny of Lepidoptera Project (LepTree), California Academy of Sciences’ AntWeb, Cyberinfrastructure for Phylogenetic Research (CIPRES), Science Environment for Ecological Knowledge (SEEK),

Discussion Interactive tree visualization can be applied to the biodiversity domain for a broad audience Integrated searching and browsing with animation Incremental Exploration Interactive tree visualization can be applied to the biodiversity domain for a broad audience Integrated searching and browsing with animation Incremental Exploration Beyond Hierarchies?

PaperLens TaxonTree Intern project at MSR with - - Mary Czerwinski, MSR - - George Robertson, MSR - - Ben Bederson, UMD

Motivation InfoVis 2004 Contest The history of InfoVis 155 papers by 315 authors for 8 years (1995~2002) Tasks Characterize the research areas and their evolution Where does a particular author fit within the research areas? What are the relationships between two or more or all authors? InfoVis 2004 Contest The history of InfoVis 155 papers by 315 authors for 8 years (1995~2002) Tasks Characterize the research areas and their evolution Where does a particular author fit within the research areas? What are the relationships between two or more or all authors?

PaperLens - Non Node-link Graph Visualization Multiple small and simple components Abstract overview of data Show relationships dynamically Two design iterations: InfoVis and CHI Multiple small and simple components Abstract overview of data Show relationships dynamically Two design iterations: InfoVis and CHI Intern Project at Microsoft Research Winner of InfoVis 2004 Contest B. Lee, M. Czerwinski, G. Robertson, B.B. Bederson (2005) Understanding Research Trends in Conferences using PaperLens Extended Abstracts of CHI 2005, pp B. Lee, M. Czerwinski, G. Robertson, B.B. Bederson (2004) Understanding Eight Years of InfoVis Conferences using PaperLens Posters Compendium of InfoVis 2004, pp

PaperLens - CHI Written in C# with Piccolo.NET 23 years ( ) 4073 papers 6300 authors 15 topics Demo

PaperLens Evaluation Qualitative study with the InfoVis dataset 8 researchers (including 1 pilot subject) 16 tasks Results Most tasks were performed in less than 20 seconds Usability Issues Author search Consistency Screen usage Qualitative study with the InfoVis dataset 8 researchers (including 1 pilot subject) 16 tasks Results Most tasks were performed in less than 20 seconds Usability Issues Author search Consistency Screen usage

EcoLens -- Visualizing food webs Project at UMD with - - Cyndy Parr - Ben Bederson

NetLens: Extension of PaperLens General: “Content-Actor” data model Scalable: Relational database, simple components Implemented by Hyunmo Kang (HCIL, UMD) Node-link graph visualization has its place Integrate it with EcoLens/NetLens NetLens: Extension of PaperLens General: “Content-Actor” data model Scalable: Relational database, simple components Implemented by Hyunmo Kang (HCIL, UMD) Node-link graph visualization has its place Integrate it with EcoLens/NetLens Discussion H. Kang, C. Plaisant, B. Lee, B.B. Bederson (2006) NetLens: Iterative Exploration of Content-Actor Network Data To appear in Proceedings of VAST 2006, invited to Information Visualization Journal H. Kang, C. Plaisant, B. Lee, B.B. Bederson (2006) Exploring Content-Actor Paired Network Data using Iterative Query Refinement with NetLens Proceedings of JCDL 2006, pp. 372 (Demo)

Conclusions Interactive visualization helps data exploration and understanding TaxonTree poses little difficulty even for novice users can be applied to other taxonomies PaperLens novel alternative to common node-link graph visualizations its concept can be applied to biodiversity domain Interactive visualization helps data exploration and understanding TaxonTree poses little difficulty even for novice users can be applied to other taxonomies PaperLens novel alternative to common node-link graph visualizations its concept can be applied to biodiversity domain For more information

© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries. The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.