Reflections on the Evolution of the BookTracker Visualization Platform
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Date
2024
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Eurographics Association
Abstract
Understanding the trade data of historical books is crucial for researchers investigating the distribution and provenance of Incunabula (books printed between 1450 and 1500). We incrementally developed BookTracker, a platform featuring multiple visualization and visual analytics applications to support these research efforts. This platform leverages data from the Material Evidence in Incunabula (MEI) database, which meticulously records detailed information on the provenance, ownership, and use of 15th-century printed books. BookTracker began with a focus on providing visualization and visual analytical solutions to effectively present each book provenance's chronological and geographical information. Through three years of collaborative work with domain experts, we continually explored the Material Evidence in Incunabula (MEI) data and discovered more possibilities for visualization to represent this rich information. Gradually, a suite of specialized visualization tools for specific analytical purposes was developed, including DanteSearchVis, DanteExploreVis, KURF2022, KURF2023, and OwnershipTracker. These tools now comprise the BookTracker platform, which has evolved to explore various features and aspects of the data. This paper details the evolution of BookTracker's design and development alongside domain experts, highlighting the reflections and lessons learned from its application in various research projects. We discuss this long-term collaborative visualization project, hoping to offer our experience as a case study for similar research in the future.
Description
CCS Concepts: Human-centered computing → Visualization design and evaluation methods; Visualization systems and tools
@inproceedings{10.2312:cgvc.20241234,
booktitle = {Computer Graphics and Visual Computing (CGVC)},
editor = {Hunter, David and Slingsby, Aidan},
title = {{Reflections on the Evolution of the BookTracker Visualization Platform}},
author = {Xing, Yiwen and Dondi, Cristina and Borgo, Rita and Abdul-Rahman, Alfie},
year = {2024},
publisher = {The Eurographics Association},
ISBN = {978-3-03868-249-3},
DOI = {10.2312/cgvc.20241234}
}