Authors
Alexander Rind, Wolfgang Aigner, Markus Wagner, Silvia Miksch, Tim Lammarsch
Publication date
2016
Journal
Information Visualization
Volume
15
Issue
4
Pages
288-300
Publisher
Sage
Description
User tasks play a pivotal role in visualization design and evaluation. However, the term ‘task’ is used ambiguously within the visualization community. In this article, we critically analyze the relevant literature and systematically compare definitions of ‘task’ and the usage of related terminology. In doing so, we identify a three-dimensional conceptual space of user tasks in visualization, referred to as the task cube, and the more precise concepts ‘objective’ and ‘action’ for tasks. We illustrate the usage of the task cube’s dimensions in an objective-driven visualization process, in different scenarios of visualization design and evaluation, and for comparing categorizations of abstract tasks. Thus, visualization researchers can better formulate their contributions which helps advance visualization as a whole.
Scholar articles
Task cube: A three-dimensional conceptual space of user tasks in visualization design and evaluation
A Rind, W Aigner, M Wagner, S Miksch, T Lammarsch - Information Visualization, 2016