What User Behaviors Make the Differences During the Process of Visual Analytics?

The understanding of visual analytics process can benefit visualization researchers from multiple aspects, including improving visual designs and developing advanced interaction functions. However, the log files of user behaviors are still hard to analyze due to the complexity of sensemaking and our lack of knowledge on the related user behaviors. This work presents a study on a comprehensive data collection of user behaviors, and our analysis approach with time-series classification methods. We have chosen a classical visualization application, Covid-19 data analysis, with common analysis tasks covering geo-spatial, time-series and multi-attributes. Our user study collects user behaviors on a diverse set of visualization tasks with two comparable systems, desktop and immersive visualizations. We summarize the classification results with three time-series machine learning algorithms at two scales, and explore the influences of behavior features. Our results reveal that user behaviors can be distinguished during the process of visual analytics and there is a potentially strong association between the physical behaviors of users and the visualization tasks they perform. We also demonstrate the usage of our models by interpreting open sessions of visual analytics, which provides an automatic way to study sensemaking without tedious manual annotations.

Collaboration in Immersive Environments: Challenges and Solutions

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) tools have been applied in all engineering fields in order to avoid the use of physical prototypes, to train in high-risk situations, and to interpret real or simulated results. In order to complete a shared task or assign tasks to the agents in such immersive environments, collaboration or Shared Cooperative Activities are a necessity. Collaboration in immersive environments is an emerging field of research that aims to study and enhance the ways in which people interact and work together in Virtual and Augmented Reality settings. Collaboration in immersive environments is a complex process that involves different factors such as communication, coordination, and social presence. This paper provides an overview of the current state of research on collaboration in immersive environments. It discusses the different types of immersive environments, including VR and AR, and the different forms of collaboration that can occur in these environments. The paper also highlights the challenges and limitations of collaboration in immersive environments, such as the lack of physical cues, cost and usability and the need for further research in this area. Overall, collaboration in immersive environments is a promising field with a wide range of potential applications, from education to industry, and it can benefit both individuals and groups by enhancing their ability to work together effectively.