1. ^aThe Department of Computer Science, The University of Sheffield, Regent Court, 211 Portobello, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 4DP UK
2. ^bThe Department of Information Studies, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 4DP UK

Correspondence: Aba-Sah Dadzie, E-mail: aba-sah@dcs.shef.ac.uk

Received 6 March 2009; Accepted 8 April 2009; Published online 4 June 2009.

Abstract

The analysis of data using a visual tool is rarely a task done in isolation, it tends to be part of a wider goal: that of making sense of the current situation, often to support decision-making. A user-centred approach is needed in order to properly design interaction that supports sense-making incorporating visual data analysis. This paper reports the experience gained in X-Media, a project that aims to support knowledge management (KM), sharing and reuse across different media in large enterprises. We report the user-centred design approach adopted and the design phases that led to the first prototype. A user evaluation was conducted to assess the design and how different levels of data, information and knowledge were mapped using alternative visual tools. The results show that a clear separation of the visual data analysis from other sense-making sub-tasks helps users in focussing their attention. Users particularly appreciated the data analysis across different media and formats, as well as the support for contextualising information within the broader perspective of KM. Further work is needed to develop more fully intuitive visualisations that exploit the richer information in multimedia documents and make the multiple connections between data more easily accessible.