pwebb@yoyodyne.ncsa.uiuc.edu (Peter Webb) (05/23/91)
In an attempt to inject some rigor into my Masters thesis I am developing a metric by which visualization methods can be compared. The following is a list of criteria that I have come up with so far. Do you think I have left out any- thing crucial? Are there others that you can think of? Do you know of any other work that has been done in this area (perhaps some has already created and justified such a metric?) Represenational Competence: Ability to present many variables. Special Requirements: User skills/equipment Clarity: How well the variables are presented. How difficult the graphic is to interpret. Artistic/Graphical Design issues. Variable Independence: Changes in one variable affect another? Physical Analogy: physical objects look like physical objects? Domain Restrictions: Is the method restricted to a given domain? Subjectivity: Is the technique susceptible to subjective interpretation? Precision: Can data values be read directly from the display? Does the display truthfully present the data? Any comments you have on the above would be most welcome, since this analysis will form the heart of the literature review section of the thesis. Thanks. Peter Webb (pwebb@ncsa.uiuc.edu)