Do it yourself? Interactive visualizations as cognitive tools

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Do it yourself? Interactive visualizations as
cognitive tools
Stephan Schwan Universität Tübingen
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Overview

• Cognitive difference between unmediated
  observation and watching a media-based depiction
• Cognitive difference between a non-interactive
  vs. an interactive depiction

S. Schwan Interactive visualizations as
cognitive tools
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Cognitive benefits of media-based visualizations

• Information storage and transmission
• Depiction of hypothetical scenarios
• Cognitive customization

• Choosing viewpoints and distances
• Replaying important event parts
• Skipping unimportant event parts
• Highlighting event boundaries
• Changing the presentation speed (e.g. slow motion)

S. Schwan Interactive visualizations as
cognitive tools
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Working division between author and user
shaping
processing
User
Medium
Author
S. Schwan Interactive visualizations as
cognitive tools
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Characteristics of interactive media
User
processing
shaping
Internal vs. external
modifying
Medium
Author
Author vs. User
S. Schwan Interactive visualizations as
cognitive tools
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Empirical questions

• Do the interactivity-related decisions of the
  authors match the respective expectations of the
  users?
• Do the users possess appropriate interaction
  strategies?
• Does an interactive information presentation lead
  to more effective and / or efficient learning?

Author vs. User
Internal vs. external
Whole System
S. Schwan Interactive visualizations as
cognitive tools
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Example video
S. Schwan Interactive visualizations as
cognitive tools
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Interactive behaviour
Stops
Slow motion
Fast motion
Changes in playing direction
S. Schwan Interactive visualizations as
cognitive tools
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Variability of viewing time
Standard deviation (sec)
S. Schwan Interactive visualizations as
cognitive tools
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Viewing time
Sec
S. Schwan Interactive visualizations as
cognitive tools
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Practicing time
Sec
S. Schwan Interactive visualizations as
cognitive tools
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Overall learning time
Sec
S. Schwan Interactive visualizations as
cognitive tools
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Summary

• Media allow for experiential customization in
  general
• Interactive media allow for individualized
  customization
• Necessary conditions
• - Match between author and user
• - Complementarity of external actions and
  internal processes
• - Epistemic actions outweigh cognitive overhead

S. Schwan Interactive visualizations as
cognitive tools