Chapter 7: Discussion
7.1 Summary of Narrative Visualizations
A summary of how each visualization preformed in the tests is presented here along with
a selection of user comments and a discussion of its overall reception.
Dramatic
The dramatic visualization ranked very highly for the majority of the ranked questions
and seemed to be the one most liked overall. Results indicate it is the most reflective, and
overall most satisfactory. These results go well with its design which was to be personal,
and to present the users experience in a manner resembling a scrapbook. Participants
seemed to enjoy this narrative visualization and many commented on how they found it
engaging and how it would be useful to share on social media:
"I think with options for more personalization in the presentation (the picture
sizes) and maybe adding other media (voice notes) this visualization can become
really interesting and engaging."
“the theme of this one works well form a social media view. It would look good
on a website."
“I liked this one the best. The 'you' centered language made the visualization more
engaging."
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Categorical
The categorical visualization ranked positively overall and was highest for learning.
These results go well with its intended design which was to give a sense of what the user
learned and the information they explored in the museum. At an average of 66 seconds, it
was the visualization that took the longest in the timed tasks. However participants
ranked it second for clarity and satisfaction so its performance is more likely due to the
nature of its design, where it presented a significant amount of textual information, than
poor functionality. Participants seemed to enjoy this narrative visualization and many
commented on how they found it helped learning:
"I think this one would work best for educational purposes. It gives a good
breakdown of the exhibits and how they relate."
"I think it would be the quickest way to find the info you needed under this type."
"the additional comments and information were helpful in fleshing out the ideas I
already got. The extra pictures made it seem more professional as expanded on
what I put there myself. This was my favourite."
Sequential
Besides being ranked the most unique, the sequential narrative visualization ranked
neutral, being neither the highest nor lowest ranked visualization. However, according to
the effectiveness results, users did seem to understand and agree with its intended design
of giving a sense of the user’s experiences as located in time and space. Overall it seems
like participants thought the design was effective and unique but didn't particularly like it
over the other narrative visualizations. This is likely due to two factors. The first being
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the implementation, participants commented that they had some issues with using it. It
might have ranked higher if it had been tweaked a bit and undergone some more user
testing.
"I liked the idea of sequential visualization although the text display was a bit
difficult to read. I would prefer to see a bigger popup when I click on a picture."
"visual indicator of start location/exhibit icon would've been helpful in addition to
different coloured lines at each point of the journey."
"One thing that would be preferred is a larger pop-up for visited exhibits to
account for more info. Dotted line pathway at right angles to destination would
look more appealing (if an option)."
"least useful, most interesting"
The second factor is that the sequential visual narrative might be better suited towards
different scenarios than the ones used. It would probably be more useful in a larger
museum or even an outdoor space where there are numerous things to see and a greater
sense of time and space than a small museum building. It is probably the narrative
visualization that is the most dependent upon where the trip is taking place in.
"Most interesting part would be to use the sequence for my own visit but
otherwise not sure why I care at what time people arrived and left the exhibit."
"this one might work well for any large exhibits, museum. It would be great to
use one for museums to plan your visit a second time. I like that my notes and
pictures were included.