Depicting news graphically is considered an apt way to deal with two challenges of modern journalism: to disclose big data, and present the news attractively, visually, and fast to grasp. Newsrooms try their hand at it and are figuring out how to organize production of information visualizations effectively. This study delves into reported obstacles and challenges for the production of news visualizations and suggests that enhancing the quality of information visualization in news media, asks for a clear view on what information visualization means for the production of news, rather than only stimulating journalist to acquire new skills
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Visualizing news is increasingly considered an apt way for dealing with two challenges of modern journalism: disclosing big data and presenting complex information in a way that is easy to comprehend. Newsrooms are trying their hand at it, and finding ways to organize the production of information visualizations effectively. This study delves into reported challenges for the production of news visualizations and suggests, in line with findings from the research case studies, that the introduction of information visualization in the media requires a convergence of journalistic and visual thinking skills, a more iterative news production process and a revised view of the function of news per se.
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From the article: Abstract The Information Axiom in axiomatic design states that minimising information is always desirable. Information in design may be considered to be a form of chaos and therefore is unwanted. Chaos leads to a lack of regularities in the design and unregulated issues tend to behave stochastically. Obviously, it is hard to satisfy the FRs of a design when it behaves stochastically. Following a recently presented and somewhat broader categorization of information, it appears to cause the most complication when information moves from the unrecognised to the recognised. The paper investigates how unrecognised information may be found and if it is found, how it can be addressed. Best practices for these investigations are derived from the Cynefin methodology. The Axiomatic Maturity Diagram is applied to address unrecognised information and to investigate how order can be restored. Two cases are applied as examples to explain the vexatious behaviour of unrecognised information.
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From the article: "The term Internet of Things (IoT) is used for situations where one or more devices are connected to a network or possibly the Internet. Most studies focus on the possibilities that arise when a device is capable to share its data with other devices or humans. In this study, the focus is on the device itself and what kind of possibilities an Internet connection gives to the device and its owner or user. Also the data the device needs to participate in a smart way in the IoT are part of this study. Agent technology is the enabling technology for the ideas introduced here. A proof of concept is given, where some concepts proposed in the paper are put into practice."
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Across 3 studies, we investigated whether visual complexity deriving from internally repeating visual information over many scale levels is a source of perceptual fluency. Such continuous repetition of visual information is formalized in fractal geometry and is a key-property of natural structures. In the first 2 studies, we exposed participants to 3-dimensional high-fractal versus low-fractal stimuli, respectively characterized by a relatively high versus low degree of internal repetition of visual information. Participants evaluated high-fractal stimuli as more complex and fascinating than their low-fractal counterparts. We assessed ease of processing by asking participants to solve effortful puzzles during and after exposure to high-fractal versus low-fractal stimuli. Across both studies, we found that puzzles presented during and after seeing high-fractal stimuli were perceived as the easiest ones to solve and were solved more accurately and faster than puzzles associated with the low-fractal stimuli. In Study 3, we ran the Dot Probe Procedure to rule out that the findings from Study 1 and Study 2 reflected differences in attentional bias between the high-fractal and low-fractal stimuli, rather than perceptual fluency. Overall, our findings confirm that complexity deriving from internal repetition of visual information can be easy on the mind.
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The aim of this study was to understand the motives for using the Internet, and its associations with users' attitudes, social values, and relational involvement. Also, this study attempted to crossculturally compare the difference in the pattern of motives and the associations among three countries ' the US, the Netherlands, and S. Korea. The design of methods was based on examination and revision of uses and gratification approach toward Internet users. Findings from factor analysis revealed that information seeking and Self-Improvement were the dominant and common reasons for using the Internet across three countries. The differences in the composition of motives in each country were also reported. Strong correlations across countries were found between all the motives and satisfaction of the Internet. Expectation and positive evaluation of the Internet were also important attitudes associated with Internet use motives. Postmaterialist value showed strong association with motives of information seeking and Self-Improvement. Community involvement was significantly associated with Internet use motives in Korean users.
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To study the ways in which compounds can induce adverse effects, toxicologists have been constructing Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs). An AOP can be considered as a pragmatic tool to capture and visualize mechanisms underlying different types of toxicity inflicted by any kind of stressor, and describes the interactions between key entities that lead to the adverse outcome on multiple biological levels of organization. The construction or optimization of an AOP is a labor intensive process, which currently depends on the manual search, collection, reviewing and synthesis of available scientific literature. This process could however be largely facilitated using Natural Language Processing (NLP) to extract information contained in scientific literature in a systematic, objective, and rapid manner that would lead to greater accuracy and reproducibility. This would support researchers to invest their expertise in the substantive assessment of the AOPs by replacing the time spent on evidence gathering by a critical review of the data extracted by NLP. As case examples, we selected two frequent adversities observed in the liver: namely, cholestasis and steatosis denoting accumulation of bile and lipid, respectively. We used deep learning language models to recognize entities of interest in text and establish causal relationships between them. We demonstrate how an NLP pipeline combining Named Entity Recognition and a simple rules-based relationship extraction model helps screen compounds related to liver adversities in the literature, but also extract mechanistic information for how such adversities develop, from the molecular to the organismal level. Finally, we provide some perspectives opened by the recent progress in Large Language Models and how these could be used in the future. We propose this work brings two main contributions: 1) a proof-of-concept that NLP can support the extraction of information from text for modern toxicology and 2) a template open-source model for recognition of toxicological entities and extraction of their relationships. All resources are openly accessible via GitHub (https://github.com/ontox-project/en-tox).
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This paper describes a participatory design-oriented study of an ambient assisted living system for monitoring the daily activities of elderly residents. The work presented addresses these questions 1) What daily activities the elderly participants like to be monitored, 2) With whom they would want to share this monitored data and 3) How a monitoring system for the elderly should be designed. For this purpose, this paper discusses the study results and participatory design techniques used to exemplify and understand desired ambient-assisted living scenarios and information sharing needs. Particularly, an interactive dollhouse is presented as a method for including the elderly in the design and requirements gathering process for residential monitoring. The study results indicate the importance of exemplifying ambient-assisted living scenarios to involve the elderly and so to increase acceptance and utility of such systems. The preliminary studies presented show that the participants were willing to have most of their daily activities monitored. However, they mostly wanted to keep control over their own data and share this information with medical specialists and particularly not with their fellow elderly neighbours.
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We need mental and physical reference points. We need physical reference points such as signposts to show us which way to go, for example to the airport or the hospital, and we need reference points to show us where we are. Why? If you don’t know where you are, it’s quite a difficult job to find your way, thus landmarks and “lieux de memoire” play an important role in our lives.
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Geospatial technologies have the potential to transform the lives of older adults by providing them with necessary tools to navigate their local communities, access services, connect with others, and access valuable information. However, the usability and accessibility of such technologies often fall short of the needs of older adults. Many existing geospatial tools are not designed with the needs and preferences of older adults in mind; this can lead to usability challenges and limit their usage. This paper explores a participatory approach in developing an inclusive geodata-collection tool that is specifically tailored to older users’ needs. The paper also highlights the importance of incorporating user-centered design principles, participatory design methods, and accessibility guidelines throughout the entire geodata-tool-development process. It also emphasizes the need for ongoing user engagement and feedback in order to ensure that the tool remains relevant and usable in the evolving digital landscape. This participatory approach has resulted in a tool that is easy to use and accessible for older adults; it is available in various languages, thus ensuring that the elderly can actively participate in the prototype’s creation and contribute to the collection of the geospatial information that reflects their lived experiences and needs.
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