MusicLand:Exploratory Browsing in

Music Space

Heidi Lam

December 15, 2004

CPSC 533C Information Visualization Project Presentation

Agenda• Motivation: Exploratory browsing?

• The ideal infovis solution: what should it be?

• MusicLand: my proposed solution

– Visualization features

– Demo

– Evaluation

– Future Work

Project Idea• How can computer tools/interfaces better support

exploratory browsing?

• What is exploratory browsing?

Two Scenarios at an Online Store1. Find/Search: Looking for Ray Charles’ “The Spirit of

Christmas” with using the store’s search tools, and input terms: “Ray Charles” and “spirit of Christmas”

2. Exploratory Browsing: Browsing at the “Classical” section Came across a Jazzified version of Bach Go to the “Jazz” section Ray Charles’ Christmas album is being advertised

Two Scenarios at an Online StoreThe goals and assumptions of these scenarios are

different:

• With find/search: – with clear and precise targets – want to find the target as quickly as possible

• With exploratory browsing:

– need multiple queries to refine/define target

– getting there is half of the fun/work?

Project MotivationExploratory browsing is not well supported by current search tools…

To better support exploratory browsing, the interface should …

1. Provide context: to allow users to interpret the query results based on their input terms what am I looking at?

2. Guide navigation: going from the familiar to the unfamiliar Given where I have been, where should I go next?

3. Assist refinement of target: based on retrieved results and query terms what can I look for next?

MusicLand—Overall View

MusicLand—Query Display

• to put results in context of query terms

• to relate neigbouring regions by a query term

• Colour-coding the single term regions with primary colours, and the intersected areas with a mix of those colours

• Perceptual Layering to indicate the relative importance of each result region

Arranges query results as a rectangularized Venn diagram

MusicLand—Semantic ZoomingTo increase display capacity

– Full (artist, title, genre, style)

– Partial (artist, title)

– Minimal (artist)

– Nil (number of results)

Zoom

• New query is an “extension” of old, linked by line, colour, and position

MusicLand—New Query

• Select record of interest brings up a list of selectable attributes

select new terms

• Old unused query regions fade and desize: Time metaphor

Demo

MusicLand—EvaluationBased on a 2-participant formative evaluation

Strengths:

• Interprets query results in context

• Provides of possible query term choices

• Guides towards future queries with history

• Fades and desizes unused query regions

Looks like MusicLand has largely achieved its design goals :o)

MusicLand—EvaluationWeaknesses (Participants’ List):• No album details

• Asymmetry of query term display

• No indication of new query terms in new query

• No Previews/Closing of query displays

Weaknesses (My list):• Scalability

• Perceptual layering

• Colour fading

MusicLand—Lessons Learned

• The importance of prototyping

• Colour is difficult

• Providing context and details has a price in scalability

MusicLand—Future Work

• Improve usability based on participants’ comments

• Launch and play the music albums

• Conduct usability study to verify the design principles behind MusicLand, and to study exploratory browsing

Conclusion• MusicLand is a tool designed to support exploratory

browsing …

– Displays retrieved results in a rectangularized Venn diagram to cluster results and to provide query terms as context

– Guides refinement of queries by providing a selectable list of attributes based on user’s current album of interest

– Anchors and guides new query formation by providing a history

• Formative study with encouraging results

Questions