Visualising Activity Data

Dept of Communication and Systems,The Open University

Scattered puzzle pieces next to solved fragment by Horia Varlan

Tony Hirst

Visual Analysis

vs.

Presentation Graphics

This is NOT a presentation about:- data discovery- data preparation- data cleansing

What data is there?0

AEIOU – Aberystwyth University – aggregated repository activity data

Agtivity – University of Manchester – usage data from Advanced Video Conferencing services users

Exposing VLE Data – University of Cambridge – activity and attention data for Cambridge’s institutional virtual learning environment

Library Impact Data – Huddersfield University – prove a statistically significant correlation between library usage and student attainment

RISE – Open University – use attention data recorded by EZProxy to provide recommendations to users of the EBSCO Discovery search solution.

Salt – University of Manchester – using 10 years of library circulation data to support long tail discovery

Shared OpenURL Data – EDINA – open OpenURL data

STAR-Trak – Leeds Metropolitan University – highlight and manage interventions with students who are at risk of dropping out

UCIAD – Open University – investigate the use of semantic technologies for integrating user activity data from different systems

Some example visualisation types…

How manydimensions?

So what might aTREEMAP

be good for?Q:

aka “seasonal subseries”

So what might aCYCLE PLOTbe good for?Q:

Use white space

gnuplot

What else dotime series hide?Q:

Trends

#time series data in d#first differencefd=np.diff(d)

Autocorrelation

matplotlib

Gephi

How manydimensions?

So where might we findNETWORK GRAPHS

defined?Q:

Tools…

…vary…

R(ggplot)

Protovis

Processing

Data Application Output

Data [Code] Output

Tools can also be appropriated…

Gource

Things to remember…

Data has “shape”

“Shape Sorter”, by Ella’s Dad

What size/shape/state is it in…?1

Big text file..?

…ask your nearest Unix sysadmin for help

http://blog.ouseful.info/2011/06/03/postcards-from-a-text-processing-excursion/ http://bit.ly/lOVySX

How is it structured?2

Bulk properties andsimple manipulations

Number of rows containing xStructural ordering (sort by column)

…again, ask your nearest Unix sysadmin for help

Data format can be key

“Key”, by dewitt

How is it formatted?3

“Writing diagrams”4

Graphviz

digraph test {

CSV [shape=box]KML [shape=box]JSON [shape=box]XML [shape=box]RDF [shape=box]HTML [shape=box]

GoogleSpreadsheet [shape=Msquare]RDFTripleStore [shape=Msquare]"[SPARQL]" [shape=diamond]"[YQL]" [shape=diamond]"[GoogleVizDataAPI]" [shape=diamond]"<GoogleGadgets>" [shape=doubleoctagon]"<GoogleVizDataCharts>" [shape=doubleoctagon]"<GoogleMaps>" [shape=doubleoctagon]"<GoogleEarth>" [shape=doubleoctagon]"<JQueryCharts_etc>" [shape=doubleoctagon]

…

…

"[SPARQL]"->RDF;"[SPARQL]"->XML;"[SPARQL]"->CSV;"[SPARQL]"->JSON;JSON-> "<JQueryCharts_etc>";CSV->"{GoogleRefine}"CSV->ScraperWikiJSON->ScraperWiki"[YQL]"->ScraperWikiScraperWiki->CSVHTML->ScraperWikiHTML->"[YQL]""[SPARQL]"->"[YQL]""{GoogleRefine}"->CSV [style=dashed]CSV->"<Gephi>" [style=dashed]"<Gephi>"->CSV [style=dashed]RDF->"[YQL]”}

.dot

Once only/first use?N times use?Automation?5

Data Application Output

Data [Code] Output

What do you wantto learn from it?6

How canvisual(isation)s help?

Just remember this:

what stories

- are you hoping to discover?- are you trying to tell?

I hope that’s been

ouseful.info ….?

Treemap Caveat – Stephen Few