[stcusesig_l] Looking for some data

[Andy Edmonds]

I did a bit of lit review at http://surfmind.com/muzings/?p=156

The best stat to date is that only 33% of tested populations report 
using tag clouds.  The intuitiveness of the size mapping to even basic 
importance is somewhat in doubt, both in published research and my 
personal observation.  People do get it quickly once the relationship is 
explained.

Direct links:
http://www.slideshare.net/gschmitt/do-real-people-really-use-tag-clouds
http://flamenco.berkeley.edu/papers/tagclouds.pdf

And maybe most relevant -- I haven't read it yet, but Gutwin does great 
work:

Seeing Things in the Clouds: The Effect of Visual Features on Tag Cloud 
Selections. Scott Bateman, Carl Gutwin and Miguel Nacenta
http://www.sigweb.org/ht08/sessions.html
http://www.sigweb.org/ht08/techpapers/abstracts.html#17

hth, A

Whitney Quesenbery wrote:
> "Tag cloud is pretty much self explanatory for any users looking at
> the  interface"
>
> You miss my point: I don't believe that it is self-explanatory. Or
> that it's a useful way to interpret and interact with any particular
> set of information.
>
> Usability is about context and use - can people use "it" to complete
> their goals.
>
> For example: a visualization may be useful to help users get a sense
> of the data, but not be useful at all for navigation.
>
> Or, the parameters of the visualization might be inappropriate for the
> task: in one test, users faced with a tag-cloud visualization asked
> why they would care what the most popular items were. People
> interested in more obscure information were particularly adamant about
> this. That's one context.
>
> My point is that any visualization is just a tool, and it can be used
> well, or inappropriately. Good research, good analysis, good design
> can all be confirmed with usability testing.
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 2:31 AM,  <Sandeep.Rathod at zycus.com> wrote:
>   
>> Regarding your question "What Value?"
>>
>> Tag cloud is pretty much self explanatory for any users looking at the
>> interface; to convey the importance and the weighting of various subjects
>> they can be explored, with a easy glance with context to the on-line
>> applications/products basic need which directly help user to quickly analyze
>> before performing the action.
>>
>> I think this link may be helpful to know more about user perception towards
>> graphics as size, shape, placement, color and principles of similarity,
>> proximity, common region and connectedness -
>> http://homepages.ius.edu/rallman/gestalt.html
>>
>>
>> Sandeep Rathod
>> User Experience Specialist
>> http://sandeeprathod.designer.org.in/
>> sandeeprathod(at)hotmail(dot)com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> "Mary Deaton" <mmdeaton at mmdeaton.com>
>> Sent by: stcusesig_l-bounces+sandeep.rathod=zycus.com at mailman.stc.org
>>
>> 08/13/2008 01:10 AM
>>
>> Please respond to
>> STC Usability and UX discussion group <stcusesig_l at mailman.stc.org>
>> To
>> sandeep.rathod at zycus.com
>> cc
>> Subject
>> [stcusesig_l] Looking for some data
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> I am working with a client who is creating a small application in which a
>> person can manipulate objects in order to show importance, intensity, and
>> relationships. The objects will be shapes or icons. The question has arisen
>> about whether people already assign meaning to objects based on size, color,
>> or opacity. We certainly see from tag clouds that there is an assumption
>> that a larger size indicates a greater value, but part of the question is
>> what value?
>>
>> I have spent the past several hours doing a literature search about visual
>> rhetoric, interaction design, icons, visualization, and some other choice
>> words, but have yet to locate something that is not just opinion and
>> indicates that there is a known, documented convention that we might refer
>> to. IF I cannot resolve the issue via a literature search, I need to do some
>> user testing, fast.
>>
>> Does anyone have a pointer to the perfect article? Or book title?
>>
>> --
>> Mary Deaton
>> Deaton Interactive Design
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>>     
>
>
>
>   
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