13 Zentrale Universitätseinrichtungen
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://elib.uni-stuttgart.de/handle/11682/14
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Item Open Access Exploring how personality affects perception of uncertainty visualization(2025) Aboulgadayel, OmarInterpreting uncertainty visualizations can be cognitively demanding, and individual differences, such as personality traits, may affect how people perceive such visualizations. While prior research has explored personality and cognitive load independently, few studies have investigated their combined influence on perception and decision-making in uncertainty visualizations. We conducted an experiment based on a wildfire evacuation task that compared textual and visual representations of uncertainty. Participants completed the NASA Task Load Index to assess perceived cognitive workload and a Big Five personality traits test to measure individual differences in personality. Consistent with prior findings, visual representations led to higher evacuation rates and faster decision times compared to textual representations. However, textual representations were associated with lower perceived cognitive workload. Personality traits significantly impacted decision-making behavior and perceived cognitive workload. Participants high in extraversion, neuroticism or openness were more likely to evacuate, while those high in agreeableness or conscientiousness were less likely to evacuate and tended to take more time to decide. Additionally, agreeableness and conscientiousness were positively correlated with perceived cognitive workload across all representations, whereas neuroticism and openness showed negative correlations, though only in certain representations. These findings offer new insights into how personality affects the perception and cognitive load in the context of uncertainty visualizations.Item Open Access AR driving assistant for wheelchairs(2024) Halach, TimWheelchairs are an important mobility aid for many people, but our built environment presents them with many challenges. To help those people better navigate our cities, we explore the viability of an informational driving assistant for wheelchairs. Driving assistants have already become commonplace in cars to help drivers control their cars. In this thesis, we present a prototype of a driving assistant for wheelchairs and evaluate it in a user study. To find what information the driving assistant should show to its users, we performed a requirements analysis on what information wheelchair and other mobility aid users might need from such a system and based our prototype on those findings. The results of our user study are inconclusive, because we had too few participants, but the concept itself seems promising.Item Open Access Evaluating different combinations of haptic feedback devices in Virtual Reality(2023) Gebhardt, PatrickVR-based systems have been using more and more haptic feedback devices for enhancing immersion and interaction, not only in the consumer market but also in industrial applications. However, different combinations of haptic feedback devices could result in different user experiences. To evaluate different types of multimodal haptic feedback, an exemplary use case was built in which combinations of STRIVE, STROE, and SenseGlove can be used. Since the use case was developed close to typical virtual buildability working patterns in the automotive industry, only VR experts from the respective departments were invited to participate in the subsequent user study, designed to evaluate the different combinations of haptic feedback devices. Participant feedback was recorded using a haptic questionnaire and an interview to obtain a broad spectrum of feedback that provides essential information for development in the future. Feedback from participants shows that currently, a combination of collision simulation and weight force simulation by the STRIVE and STROE devices leaves the best impression. Other important findings show that haptic feedback is generally very well accepted, but that full haptic feedback is not always required, since not all haptic impressions are necessary for every work step. Thus, while haptic grasping is beneficial in some of the tasks, it cannot keep up with the simplicity of the controller due to imperfect precision, among other things. A promising prospect for the future is therefore the implementation of finger tracking in combination with collision feedback and weight simulation as a middle ground between haptic grasping and the use of a controller since the haptic feedback of STRIVEs and STROE could thus be applied directly to the user’s hand.Item Open Access Online visualization of German power plants and their production(2017) Ullah, Kazi RiazMaps are used for centuries to visualize geographical or topological information and nowadays, with modern technology, we can create interactive maps that allow us to display and access additional information. Some of them have even become part of our daily life, such as, almost real-time traffic information. Furthermore, maps are often used to display data of population densities, temperatures and spatial distribution of geographical phenomenon. Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy ISE decided to build an interactive map that shows the locations of all power plants listed on the European Energy Exchange (EEX). Since July 2014, the Fraunhofer ISE has been providing interactive charts on electricity production and other related information about electricity and power generation in Germany. These charts became very popular and widely used by people from different professions, namely scientists, politicians, journalists as well as online/printed media. Due to the high popularity of these interactive energy charts, an interactive map has been added to the Energy Charts data visualization portal to make the framework more informative and interesting for users. The map has several search options and levels of detail for searching different power plant locations, technical data, and connectivity to the high voltage transmission lines. Furthermore, this new visualization framework is interconnected with the existing energy charts. The dynamic linking, brushing and filtering technique in both map and energy charts have enhanced the framework by an additional layer providing more visibility and information on the selected power plants.Item Open Access Visual parameters space analysis for architectural design space exploration(2023) Grund, SebastianArchitects, in their search for building designs, are offered multiple supportive tools by various CAD Software. One such tool is multi-objective optimization (MOO) where a computer proposes possible designs that try to optimize multiple performance functions. But in the past, it was disclosed that the results of such Optimization runs can be hard to interpret and work with correctly. Together with experienced field experts, we analyzed the problem and derived the necessary design requirements for a possible supportive interface. Working closely with these experts we then developed an interactive visualization prototype that aims to help architects with their MOO design approach. To support the exploration of the multi-dimensional parameter space and the multi-dimensional objective space the presented prototype utilizes multiple coordinated views. The Views include among others a parallel coordinates plot of the data points for correlation detection and two scatter plots displaying each only the dimensional reduced parameter and objective part of the MOO results. Together with automated and manual clustering as well as other interaction capabilities, the tool supports exploration and filtration steps for the MOO design process. Next to the direct feedback of the field experts during the iterative development stages, we also evaluated the prototype in a hands-on expert review where MOO results for two different Models were analyzed. The chosen coding style tries to lower required expenses for the addition of more views should additional requirements or different visualization approaches occur. Our tool aims to be integrated into an existing MOO tool (opossum for Rhino3D) and become the interlinking part between the computer and the architect in their cooperative building design search.Item Open Access Affective Sonification(2023) Caycedo, NicolasDie Definition von Gefühle ist immer noch ein heftig diskutiertes Thema, zu dem neue Herausfindungen ständig ans Licht gebracht werden. Externe Reize spielen oft eine wichtige Role in unseren Gefühlen und können unsere Stimmung schwanken in noch nicht ganz verstandenen Arten. Gefühle und Affekt haben auch auf unsere kognitive Leistung und Interpretation von anderen Reizen einen Einfluss. Umfangreichende Forschung über die Einwirkung der Musik und Klänge auf Emotion ist ausgeführt gewesen. Im Bereich der Sonifikation sind Daten oft abstrakt durch nicht sofort erkannbare Klänge dargestellt. Wir versuchen eine Benutzerstudie und die dazu gehörige Werkzeuge zu entwürfen, mit der man besser verstehen kann, wie der Gehöraspek einer audiovisuelle Datendarstellung den Enmpfänger beeinflusst. Im Lauf des Projekts entwickeln wir eine Softwareapplikation, die Elemente des partizipativen Designs einbindet, um Laien bei der Erstellung eines Daten representierenden Schalles zu helfen. Wir führen eine Pilotstudie und legen den Grundstein einer vollwertigen zukünftigen Benutzerstudie. Dieses Dokument beschreibt unser Entwurfprozess, Herausforderungen, und Überlegungen durch die Plannung der Benutzerstudie und dazu gehörige Software.Item Open Access Using an electric guitar as an input device for tab interface navigation(2025) Labudda, MariusGuitar tablature is a musical notation that uses six lines to represent the strings, while numbers on those lines show which frets to press. Digital tablature interfaces enhance the playing and learning experience through synchronized tablature playback, drum tracks, and more. Tablature interfaces are generally operated by touch or conventional mouse and keyboard input. Controlling playback, navigating through songs, and configuring the interface can result in inconvenient context switches since guitarists regularly switch between playing the guitar and interacting with the interface via mouse and keyboard. In this thesis, we use the audio input of an unmodified electric guitar to investigate possibilities for navigating tablature interfaces while avoiding such context switches. Our goal is to facilitate the use of tablature interfaces while maintaining a consistent interaction mode. To achieve this goal, we explored different algorithms to determine which approach works best for our use case of audio-matching tasks. These algorithms compare the guitarist's audio input with synthetically generated song audio and produce a compliance score, which aims to enable navigation for any opened song in the tablature interface. Furthermore, we utilize audio matching to achieve accessible song selection without using a mouse or keyboard. The implementation of bar-specific navigation within a song posed several challenges. First, the recorded audio input differs too much from the synthetically generated sound to enable reliable matching. Second, modern songs have too many bars in which the guitar notes differ little or not at all. These factors and others made it impossible to use a robust audio-based navigation system for jumping to specific bars. However, a bookmark system enables song selection without letting go of the guitar, and predefined commands allow control of many functions. That way, the user can interact with the system without using a mouse or keyboard, relying exclusively on the guitar as the input device. This thesis highlights the opportunities and challenges of integrating audio-based controls into tablature interfaces. It might inspire future work to explore more intuitive ways for musicians to interact with digital systems.Item Open Access User-centric approach of visual cues to enhance VR orientation for people with visual impairments(2024) Baric̆ová, KatarinaFor successful navigation through the world, a good orientation is needed. Our orientation is directly influenced by how well we can build and use a cognitive map of the environment around us. Cognitive maps are mental representations of spatial information of an environment. A lack of visual information can impede the successful acquisition of a cognitive map. As such, people with impaired vision can struggle with tasks requiring spatial orientation. With a goal to facilitate orientation, we created a set of visual cues designed to compensate for the lack of information needed for cognitive mapping. To meet the needs of different visual impairment, we followed a user-centric approach for the visual cue design. For this, we first conducted a formative interview with visually impaired people, investigating what information should be highlighted and how. With these insights, we created six different visual cue categories providing information about Obstacles, Points of Interest (POI), Entrances, and Shape Information. The visual cues in each category come in different forms, tailored to different needs. In a subsequent user study, we let participants with impaired vision explore a city scene in Virtual Reality using our visual cues. To evaluate the cues’ efficacy for orientation, our study investigated the participants’ cognitive mapping process. Our study results indicate that four out of five participants were able to successfully build and use a cognitive map of the virtual city. Given a remaining vision of 10%-15% combined with a Field of View of less than 5°, the visual cues could not provide sufficient aid. Nonetheless, all visual cue categories were reported as helpful, with the Shape Information cues being deemed as most important for exploration.Item Open Access Bias in scatterplots(2025) Krestic, AmelPrior beliefs of viewers are a significant factor of bias when working with visualizations. This belief bias can easily be evoked by axis labels and context, leading to an influence on a viewers interaction with and analysis of said visualization. Even for low level visual analytic tasks, viewer beliefs show themselves as an influence, where one would otherwise hope viewers would be entirely objective. Through a user study, I show how belief triggering axis labels can influence a viewer’s correlation estimates of scatter plots when compared to the same plots with neutral X/Y labels. Viewers first reported their beliefs in six variable pairs that are used as labels later. The viewer’s baseline correlation estimates of plots with X/Y labels were gathered, and compared to the estimates of the same plots, but with belief triggering labels (i.e. Income/Happiness). When viewers believed in the relation of the variables, they increased their correlation estimates. Meanwhile when they believed them not to be related, they decreased their estimates. Further more, this effect extends to the viewer’s gaze behavior. Viewers with different belief strengths showed different levels of fixation on outliers, increasing or decreasing from their baseline dependent on belief strength. They also generally showed different shifts in attention distribution across the plots. The results reaffirm the possible effect of belief on even low level analytic tasks, and suggest an effect on viewer perception akin to selective attention or increased salience of features that align with existing belief. These findings can aid researchers working on visualizations techniques and dynamic visualization systems that aim to recognize and mitigate such cognitive biases.Item Open Access Visualization for AI-assisted harmonics(2025) Schütz, VerenaI present HarmonAI, a visual analytics tool visualizing AI generated harmonizations designed to assist composers with harmonizing a given melody. Harmonization is a complex task, which has no unique correct solution, but various options of combinatorial complexity to choose from according to musical suitability. The goal of this work is to make generative AI for composition accessible to the target audience of non-professional musicians by communicating musical characteristics regarding harmony visually in a way that supports efficient browsing of numerous samples without the need of listening to them. Further, HarmonAI is meant to reduce the required music theory knowledge of the user to assess harmonizations and to allow estimating the effect created by a combination of melody and chord progression. My three central contributions are two visualizations and the extention of multiple metrics to give insight into progression of a piece of music: The (1) interactive tabular overview with incorporated visuals of all metrics forms the core of HarmonAI. The detailed (2) Harmonic Leadsheet is a piano roll based dense representation of symbolic music at the level of single notes interleaved with the (3) progression metrics, which consider computational harmonicity, distances and functional analysis. For evaluation I conducted three usage scenarios demonstrating the application of HarmonAI. Besides successfully giving this proof of concept I found that melody chord consonance is comprehensively captured while identifying potential for improvement regarding the visualization of characteristics related to chord internal structure. In addition, the Harmonic Leadsheet also was particularly useful for validating and understanding musical metrics.