Design practices in visualization driven data exploration for non-expert audiences

Abstract

Data exploration is increasingly relevant to the average person in our data-driven world, as data is now often open source and available to the general public and other non-expert users via open data portals and other similar data sources. This has introduced the need for data exploration tools, methods and techniques to engage non-expert users in data exploration, and thus a proliferation of new research in the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) that relates to engaging non-expert audiences with data. In particular data exploration that contains a data visualization component can be useful for making data understandable and engaging for non-expert audiences.

Currently, the range of design practices most commonly used in the field of HCI to engage non-expert audiences in data exploration that includes a visualization component has yet to be formalized or given a comprehensive overview. This paper is a systematic mapping study (SMS) which aims to fill that gap by analyzing design trends engaging non-expert audiences in visualization driven data exploration via interactive systems, providing an overview of existing design practices and engagement methods, as well as set of three recommendations for how future designers can best engage non-expert audiences in visualization driven data exploration.