Des techniques d'interaction bimanuelles pour la manipulation de visualisations de réseaux

Abstract

This thesis reports the results of an exploration of the design space of two-handed user interfaces for interacting with a network visualization (i.e., a graph visualization). A software prototype implemented in Java demonstrates novel bimanual interaction techniques. The prototype uses two indirect input devices (such as two mice or similar devices, that are not on the display surface). The use of such indirect devices allows us to avoid problems associated with direct multitouch input on the display surface, such as occlusion of data by fingers. The prototype supports status quo interaction techniques, such as direct manipulation (translation, rotation, and scaling via two input points) of subgraphs. Additionally, the prototype supports novel interaction techniques, including (1) using both hands to select the shortest path between two nodes, and then dragging to select neighbors of the path out to a given distance, and (2) using the non-dominant hand (NDH) to control zoom while the dominant hand (DH) selects nodes along a path. The prototype also supports (3) a HotGlass, a novel synthesis of the pre-existing ToolGlass (Bier et al., 1993) and HotBox (Kurtenbach et al., 1999) widgets. The HotGlass is held in the NDH and can be clicked through by the DH like a ToolGlass, but can also be “teleported” underneath the DH’s cursor as if it were a HotBox. Finally, the prototype also demonstrates (4) another novel bimanual popup widget called the MultiVis Lens, that can transiently modify the visual representation of a subgraph. Each MultiVis Lens displays a local portion of the network in either node-link, adjacency matrix, or scatterplot form. Several MultiVis Lenses can be popped up and left on-screen simultaneously, like tear-off menus, enabling a hybrid network visualization to be assembled that extends the kind of hybrid visualization possible with NodeTrix (Henry et al., 2007). At the end of this thesis, initial user feedback is reported.

Date	17 Jan 2012
Original language	French
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Michael John McGuffin (Supervisor)