Using end-user visualization environments to mediate conversations: a 'Communicative Dimensions' framework

An end-user visualization environment aims to empower end users to create graphical representations of phenomena within a scientific domain of interest. Research into end-user visualization environments has traditionally focused on developing the human-computer interaction necessary to enable the quick and easy construction of domain-specific visualizations. That traditional focus has left open the question of how such environments might support human-human interaction. Especially in situations in which end-user visualization environments are enlisted to facilitate learning and to build design consensus, we hypothesize that a key benefit is their ability to mediate conversations about a scientific domain of interest. In what ways might end-user visualization environments support human communication, and what design features make them well-suited to do so? Drawing both on a theory of communication, and on empirical studies in which end-user environments were enlisted to support human communication, we propose a provisional framework of six 'Communicative Dimensions' of end-user visualization environments: programming salience, provisionality, story content, modifiability, controllability, and referencability. To illustrate the value of these dimensions as an analytic and design tool, we use them to map a sample of publicly available end-user visualization environments into the 'Communicative' design space. By characterizing those aspects of end-user visualization environments that impact social interaction, our framework provides an important extension to Green and Petre's (J. Visual Lang. Comput. 7 (1996) 131-174) 'Cognitive Dimensions'.