User-centered design and evaluation of a dynamic biochemical pathway visualization tool

Abstract

Information visualization is a field of computer science that deals with the computerized visualization of complex information in a form that is easier for human beings to comprehend. Information visualization has applications in many domains, including business, science, and medicine. Visualization of biochemical pathways, as graphs of nodes representing biochemical entities and arcs representing the relationships between entities, is one such application. This thesis begins by reviewing work that has been done on the usability of information visualization techniques, and in particular these that apply to biochemical pathways. Then, the thesis presents three different usability evaluation techniques that are used to gather information about existing biochemical pathway visualization tools. These are (1) conducting videotaped evaluation sessions of existing biochemical visualization tools, (2) collecting questionnaires, and (3) conducting a brainstorming session. The results from these studies are used to define the requirements, design, and build a biochemical pathway visualization tool, taking into account conclusions drawn from both literature and user studies. The tool is then tested and compared to existing tools. Results show that the developed tool has more relevant features to biochemical pathway visualization than existing tools, accomplishes certain tasks faster than other tools, and is intuitive and easy to use. In addition, positive feedback from users is documented. At the end of the thesis, we make some generalizations to the area of information visualization and we then present areas for further research.