Daisychain: Search and Interactive Visualisation of Homologs in Genome Assemblies

Daisychain is an interactive graph visualisation and search tool for custom-built gene homology databases. The main goal of Daisychain is to allow researchers working with specific genes to identify homologs in other annotation releases. The gene-centric representation includes local gene neighborhood to distinguish orthologs and paralogs by local synteny. The software supports genome sequences in FASTA format and GFF3 formatted annotation files, and the process of building the homology database requires a minimum amount of user interaction. Daisychain includes an integrated web viewer that can be used for both data analysis and data publishing. The web interface extends KnetMaps.js and is based on JavaScript.

Theatre Performance Dashboard: Development and Challenges

Manual theatre performance measurement is resource yearning and inaccurate. To automate the process, we built a dashboard which provides interactive visualisation of key performance metrics related to operating theatres. The aim is to assist in the efficient management of surgical services and provide visibility on metrics trending over time for health service facilities.

TOURISTS RESPONSES TO THE USE OF MOBILE AUGMENTED REALITY FOR TRAVEL

Tourist experiences are shaped by the complexities of the individual visitor’s psychological factors, and it is widely known that tourists anticipate a positive experience from every trip made. Yet, the fact remains that travel is inextricably linked to the issues of geography and awareness and a misinterpretation of the attributes of a destination may lead to unlikely expectations that affect the entire experience. With the dynamic and interactive visualisation features offered by augmented reality (AR) on mobile phones and other smart handheld devices, this technology is viewed as being capable of closing the gap between tourist expectations and reality, thereby improving how tourists engage with their surroundings. Despite the known potential of this relatively new technology, its actual acceptance among the users is still minimal, especially in the Malaysian context. Considering this limitation, this study examined the extent of AR utilisation and its ability to influence the development of a tourists’ travel experience. The ‘Iskandar.my’ mobile AR app was used in this research to evaluate the tourists’ expectations, perception and satisfaction with the utilisation of this software platform to add value to their travel experience. The findings indicated that there was a statistically significant differences in the respondents’ experiences before and after using the AR content on the mobile app. The thrill associated with the use of this advanced technology was the primary factor in their satisfaction with the AR function. However, the lack of variety in the attractions covered, as well as the app’s currently limited offerings, were noted as factors that could affect the ‘Iskandar. my’ apps competitiveness with regard to other travel-related apps. Therefore, this researcher recommends that the developer of the app improve the design and service dimensions of the app to meet users’ travel needs.

Exploring domestic energy consumption feedback through interactive annotation

We report on a three-week field study in which participants from nine households were asked to annotate their domestic electricity consumption data using a prototype interactive visualisation. Through an analysis of the annotations and semi-structured interviews, our findings suggest that the intervention helped participants to develop a detailed and accurate understanding of their electricity consumption data. Our results suggest that energy data visualisations can be improved by having users actively manipulate and annotate their data, as doing so encourages reflection on how energy is being used, facilitating insights on how consumption can be reduced. One of the key findings from our thematic analysis was that participants went beyond the data in their reflections, talking about generational issues, upbringing, financial matters, socio-economic comparisons, environmental concern, mistrust towards utilities, convenience, comfort and self-reported waste. Reading beyond the data illustrates the importance of social practices in the context of energy feedback, embedding eco-feedback research into the relevant context of sociology and psychology research.

TIARA 2.0: an interactive tool for annotating discourse structure and text improvement

Discourse structure annotation aims at analysing how discourse units (e.g. sentences or clauses) relate to each other and what roles they play in the overall discourse. Several annotation tools for discourse structure have been developed. However, they often only support specific annotation schemes, making their usage limited to new schemes. This article presents TIARA 2.0, an annotation tool for discourse structure and text improvement. Departing from our specific needs, we extend an existing tool to accommodate four levels of annotation: discourse structure, argumentative structure, sentence rearrangement and content alteration. The latter two are particularly unique compared to existing tools. TIARA is implemented on standard web technologies and can be easily customised. It deals with the visual complexity during the annotation process by systematically simplifying the layout and by offering interactive visualisation, including clutter-reducing features and dual-view display. TIARA’s text-view allows annotators to focus on the analysis of logical sequencing between sentences. The tree-view allows them to review their analysis in terms of the overall discourse structure. Apart from being an annotation tool, it is also designed to be useful for educational purposes in the teaching of argumentation; this gives it an edge over other existing tools.

An Information Visualisation Tool for Emergency Management

<p>The development of computerised information systems for large scale emergency management is lacking. These systems could present information and support information transfer across shifts. This is important as providing timely information is critical for efficient search and rescue operations in an emergency environment. This thesis contributes the design and prototype implementation for an interactive visualisation, called RescueTime, which is then evaluated. The evaluation showed that RescueTime is as effective as a traditional tool used by emergency managers. This demonstrates the feasibility of designing and developing larger information systems, for the purpose of emergency management.</p>

Data for Surf's Sake - Illustrating a subculture through interactive data visualisation and action sports trackers

<p>Over the last two years action sports trackers have emerged for those seeking thrills in risk-taking sports (Mitchell, 2014). The data generated by these trackers is creating digitised representations of communities participating in action sports such as surfing. The surfing database comprises of activity all over the globe, and due to its size and complexity it can be categorised as big data. Understanding this complex database requires specific data visualisation methods which visually map relationships and patterns. This research asked: can an interactive data visualisation illustrate hierarchical, nomadic, and experiential aspects of the surfing subculture? This thesis is based on ethnographic research which focuses on exploring qualitative visualisations of the quantitative databases generated by action sports trackers for surfing. The research focused on the design of data visualisations which explored contemporary methods and principles of data visualisation and their applicability to communicate aspects of the surfing subculture. This manifested in the design of an interactive web application, Gone Surfing, which focused on global, local, and personal views which communicate Stranger’s (2011) substructure model of the surfing subculture. The hierarchical, nomadic, and experiential aspects of the surfing subculture are only known from long term immersion in the subculture itself. This design made these aspects explicit through the visualisation of the database. For example, pilgrimage’s to revered surfing locations and hierarchy within local communities, and a surfer’s relationship with the waves are forms of implicit knowledge which were made explicit. The final creative output, Gone Surfing, visualises these aspects in an interactive web application consisting of global, local, and personal views to each communicate an aspect effectively. The interactive visualisation allows non-surfers to explore the subculture while enhancing a surfer’s understanding of their position within the surfing nation.</p>

An Information Visualisation Tool for Emergency Management

<p>The development of computerised information systems for large scale emergency management is lacking. These systems could present information and support information transfer across shifts. This is important as providing timely information is critical for efficient search and rescue operations in an emergency environment. This thesis contributes the design and prototype implementation for an interactive visualisation, called RescueTime, which is then evaluated. The evaluation showed that RescueTime is as effective as a traditional tool used by emergency managers. This demonstrates the feasibility of designing and developing larger information systems, for the purpose of emergency management.</p>

Data for Surf's Sake - Illustrating a subculture through interactive data visualisation and action sports trackers

<p>Over the last two years action sports trackers have emerged for those seeking thrills in risk-taking sports (Mitchell, 2014). The data generated by these trackers is creating digitised representations of communities participating in action sports such as surfing. The surfing database comprises of activity all over the globe, and due to its size and complexity it can be categorised as big data. Understanding this complex database requires specific data visualisation methods which visually map relationships and patterns. This research asked: can an interactive data visualisation illustrate hierarchical, nomadic, and experiential aspects of the surfing subculture? This thesis is based on ethnographic research which focuses on exploring qualitative visualisations of the quantitative databases generated by action sports trackers for surfing. The research focused on the design of data visualisations which explored contemporary methods and principles of data visualisation and their applicability to communicate aspects of the surfing subculture. This manifested in the design of an interactive web application, Gone Surfing, which focused on global, local, and personal views which communicate Stranger’s (2011) substructure model of the surfing subculture. The hierarchical, nomadic, and experiential aspects of the surfing subculture are only known from long term immersion in the subculture itself. This design made these aspects explicit through the visualisation of the database. For example, pilgrimage’s to revered surfing locations and hierarchy within local communities, and a surfer’s relationship with the waves are forms of implicit knowledge which were made explicit. The final creative output, Gone Surfing, visualises these aspects in an interactive web application consisting of global, local, and personal views to each communicate an aspect effectively. The interactive visualisation allows non-surfers to explore the subculture while enhancing a surfer’s understanding of their position within the surfing nation.</p>

linus: Conveniently explore, share, and present large-scale biological trajectory data in a web browser

In biology, we are often confronted with information-rich, large-scale trajectory data, but exploring and communicating patterns in such data can be a cumbersome task. Ideally, the data should be wrapped with an interactive visualisation in one concise packet that makes it straightforward to create and test hypotheses collaboratively. To address these challenges, we have developed a tool, linus, which makes the process of exploring and sharing 3D trajectories as easy as browsing a website. We provide a python script that reads trajectory data, enriches them with additional features such as edge bundling or custom axes, and generates an interactive web-based visualisation that can be shared online. linus facilitates the collaborative discovery of patterns in complex trajectory data.