Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Reaction: Task Taxonomy for Graph Visualization

      "Task Taxonomy for Graph Visualization" presents a simple list of tasks that users of a graph visualization will want to perform to gain insight into the data that a graph is visualizing. While the paper is very simple, it provides a nice list of items that someone designing a visualization system could use to ensure their system is useful or to someone wanting to review a visualization system. The list of tasks seems fairly exhaustive and the examples provided for each set of tasks makes the list simple and comprehensible. The review of terminology was helpful for those not familiar with graph theory or graphs of these types, but I wonder how relevant it actually is considering their target audience. I would imagine anyone in their target audience would already be intimately familiar with these concepts.
      The paper does not seem to evoke any questions from me, as it is a fairly simple reference of tasks. I was very happy to see at the end of the paper a link to a wiki page for further discussion and enhancement. This theoretically could allow the list to grow and change form with input from all over the world. After examining the wiki page, I could not find much difference between it and the paper, meaning no such discussion or enhancement has occurred in the last 4-5 years.

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