Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 4-19-2012 12:00 AM Making Sense of Document Collections with Map-Based Visualizations Olga Buchel The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Kamran Sedig The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Library & Information Science A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Olga Buchel 2012 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Recommended Citation Buchel, Olga, "Making Sense of Document Collections with Map-Based Visualizations" (2012). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 523. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/523 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Making Sense of Document Collections with Map-Based Visualizations ( Thesis format: Integrated-Article ) by Olga Buchel Graduate Program in Library and Information Science A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Olga Buchel 2012 THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION Supervisor Examiners ________________________________ _________________________________ Dr. Kamran Sedig Dr. Paulette Rothbauer ________________________________ Supervisory Committee Dr. Anabel Quan-Haase Dr. Victoria Rubin ________________________________ Dr. D. Grant Campbell Dr. Luiz Fernando Capretz ________________________________ Dr. Karyn Moffatt The thesis by Olga Buchel entitled: Making Sense of Document Collections with Map-Based Visualizations is accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ________________________________ ________________________________ Date Chair of the Thesis Examination Board ii Abstract As map-based visualizations of documents become more ubiquitous, there is a greater need for them to support intellectual and creative high-level cognitive activities with collections of non- cartographic materials — documents. This dissertation concerns the conceptualization of map-based visualizations as tools for sensemaking and collection understanding. As such, map-based visualizations would help people use georeferenced documents to develop understanding, gain insight, discover knowledge, and construct meaning. This dissertation explores the role of graphical representations (such as maps, Kohonen maps, pie charts, and other) and interactions with them for developing map-based visualizations capable of facilitating sensemaking activities such as collection understanding. While graphical representations make document collections more perceptually and cognitively accessible, interactions allow users to adapt representations to users’ contextual needs. By interacting with representations of documents or collections and being able to construct representations of their own, people are better able to make sense of information, comprehend complex structures, and integrate new information into their existing mental models. In sum, representations and interactions may reduce cognitive load and consequently expedite the overall time necessary for completion of sensemaking activities, which typically take much time to accomplish. The dissertation proceeds in three phases. The first phase develops a conceptual framework for translating ontological properties of collections to representations and for supporting visual tasks by means of graphical representations. The second phase concerns the cognitive benefits of interaction. It conceptualizes how interactions can help people during complex sensemaking activities. Although the interactions are explained on the example of a prototype built with Google Maps, they are independent iii of Google Maps and can be applicable to various other technologies. The third phase evaluates the utility, analytical capabilities and usability of the additional representations when users interact with a visualization prototype – VIsual COLlection EXplorer. The findings suggest that additional representations can enhance understanding of map-based visualizations of library collections: specifically, they can allow users to see trends, gaps, and patterns in ontological properties of collections. Keywords: Digital libraries; Human-information interaction; Information visualization; Interaction Design; Map-Based Visualizations; Sensemaking; Collection Understanding; Representations; Ontological Properties; Digital Maps; Geolibraries; Next Generation Library Catalogues; Geovisualization; Georeferencing iv Co‐authorship statement I was primarily responsible for the research presented in this dissertation, including conceptualization, study design, data collection, analysis, and manuscript preparation. The conceptualizations presented in Chapters 3 and 4 were written with the guidance and assistance of Dr. Sedig. They were submitted for publication as co-authored papers, with myself as the primary author. For the study presented in Chapter 5, I designed the study, collected the data, analyzed the data, and prepared the manuscript with the help of Dr. Sedig. The study will be submitted for publication as a co- authored paper. Dr. Sedig has read this statement and is in agreement with it. v Acknowledgements As with every dissertation there are many people who provided various forms of guidance, assistance, and encouragement. It is difficult to overstate my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Kamran Sedig, for directing me along this particular line of research, and remaining patient with me throughout. His editorial advice and precise sense of language was essential to the completion of this dissertation and clearing the path towards thesis completion in his solution-oriented way. I am also thankful to him for carefully reading and commenting on countless revisions of this manuscript. He has taught me innumerable lessons and insights on the workings of academic research in general. I could not have written this dissertation without his support. The topic of this dissertation would not have been possible without the research done by the pioneer in geodigital libraries – Dr.Linda Hill. As someone who once worked in the field, I have deep respect and fondness for her work on merging text with coordinates, georeferencing, and building one of the largest gazetteers in the world. I had many energetic and challenging conversations with Dr. Linda Hill regarding the role of gazetteers in map-based visualizations. These discussions helped me better understand the gaps in the research on geodigital libraries. For this dissertation I would also like to thank my reading committee members: Dr. Victoria Rubin and Dr. Grant Campbell for their time, interest, and helpful comments. I am indebted to Dr. Victoria Rubin, who as a good friend, was always willing to help, give her best suggestions, encouragement, support, and her willingness to discuss ideas at their initial stage. I am grateful to Professor Emeritus Tim Craven and Dr. Grant Campbell for reading my early writings about geospatial concepts, commenting on my views and helping me understand and enrich my ideas and help me improve my knowledge of geospatial concepts in library catalogues. This helped me sort out the technical details of my work at the early stages of this project. My gratitude also goes to Dr. vi Jacquie Burkel for her insightful comments about the study; Dr. Diane Neal, for useful discussions about geospatial concepts and geotagging; and Dr. Lu Xiao, for discussion about human-computer interactions. I had many fruitful conversations with fellow graduate students and colleagues. I am grateful to Paul Parsons, Dr. Margaret Kipp, and Dr. Tatiana Vashchilko for discussions that exposed me to new ideas, pushed my thinking in useful directions, encouraged me to keep writing, and helped me bypass the more persistent obstacles to thesis completion. My students of Geodigital Libraries class were of more help than they may realize. They provided a stream of useful questions that forced me to clarify and think more carefully about certain ideas and implementations. My special thanks go to Valentin Kelemen, Eva Fisher, Kristin Bogdan, Carol Robinson, Francine Berish, and Sarah Simpkin. I have also been fortunate in that the many members of staff at the libraries with whom I have had contact have willingly shared their knowledge and skills. It is not possible to list all of these people here but I would like to acknowledge the work of the librarians at the Graduate Resource Center at The Faculty of Information and Media Studies, Slavic librarian-emerita Wanda Wawro at Cornell University Library, reference librarian Regina Frakowiac and collection developer Grant Harris at the Library of Congress. They helped tremendously with the search for all sorts of materials and understanding user tasks and activities in Slavic collections. A special thank also goes to Slavic cataloguers and collection developers at the Library of Congress who build such an outstanding collection of Local History of Ukraine which I used for visualization in this dissertation. I am also indebted to the many countless contributors