Presentation of project outcomes during a 'breakfast meeting' at the University of Oslo. More information at the project site: bit.ly/visualnavigationproject

1. Mikaela Aamodt | Dan Michael Heggø | Hugo Huurdeman | Helge Mjelde | Live Rasmussen | Heidi Rustad | Kyrre Låberg | Nina Thodesen
University of Oslo Library
bit.ly/VisualNavigationProject
Presentation by Hugo C. Huurdeman, 15 June, 2018
Breakfast meeting: Project Outcomes

2. image: https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/endless-shelves-zhongsuhge-hangzhou-bookstore-xl-muse

3. ‘Digital turn’
Gradual decline of physical access to books
§

4. However, digital “impoverished” compared to physical
(Pomerantz & Marchionini, 2007)
Loss of open exploration, serendipity, immersion, touch
(McKay et al, 2017; Björneborn, 2008; Blandford et al, 2006)

5. Konsepter:
Increasing role of libraries as a social space
(Pomerantz & Marchionini, 2007)

6. Konsepter:
Increasing role of libraries as a social space
(Pomerantz & Marchionini, 2007)

7. Visual Navigation Project
“The collection in a new light”
— Bridging the gap between the visual experience of
physical libraries & digital libraries

8. Mikaela Aamodt | Dan Michael Heggø | Hugo Huurdeman | Helge Mjelde | Live Rasmussen | Heidi Rustad | Kyrre Låberg | Nina Thodesen
Visual Navigation Project
University of Oslo Library
bit.ly/VisualNavigationProject
in collaboration with Department of Informatics
by support of the National Library of Norway
start: Sept. 2016. duration two years
Three project streams…

9. Physical interaction (2)
Visualization (1)
Visual navigation
prototypes
Continuation (3)
Extended Emnesøk
interface
Enhanced data &
infrastructure
1. Visual Navigation
Create new interfaces f/visual book browsing and navigation, using infrastructure vocabularies
2. Physical Interaction
Explore novel interaction with library materials, e.g. via touch screen, touch table, etc.
3. Continuation and Extension
Extend subject search infrastructure and interface, add vocabularies

10. Sep. Okt. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun.
Prototyping
ideas d3
Initial
testing
Refine & adapt
to touch table
Design
HF
app
Deploymt.
HF app
Infrastructure
development
User
test
UI-old
S1: Visual
Navigation
S2: Physical
Interaction
S3: Continua-
tion & Extension Refine-
ment UI
& system
Design
Abel
app
Eval
1a
Eval
1b
Yaron Master project prototyping and testing
d3
familiarizati
on
creating website
Documentation
& outreach
weekly project reports
User
test
UI-new
Refine-
ment
Y. Final proto
VIRAK
work-
shop
LibCarp
work-
shop
Deploy
Abel
app
Proto-
typing
ideas
User
testing
Adaptation
(visual nav.)
VIRAK
submis-
sions
Present at Realf, HumS, Jur, Med,
Ledermøte, WebGrp, DigS,
MapProj,Alma/Oria, BibsysWG
Prepping
VIRAK
contribs
Test
Vis.
Nav
Apps
Prep.
demos
VIRAK
Eval
Eval
LibCarp
work-
shop
brain-
storms
INF2260 Bachelor project
Query
analysis Oria
Library
observations
Inter-
view
s
brain-
storm
s
Eva-
luate
year
1 of
pro-
ject
1. Rethink
2. Visualize
3. Connect
5. Document & share
4. Evaluate

11. 1. Rethink
picture: Colorbox
physical
library
digital
library
transaction log analysis (3)
observations (1), interviews (2)
brainstorms (4)usage

12. Rethink 1. observations
picture: UiO

13. Rethink 2. interviews
picture: Yaron Okun

14. Rethink 3. query analysis

15. see: Huurdeman, Aamodt & Heggø (2018)

16. see: Huurdeman, Aamodt & Heggø (2018)

17. see: Huurdeman, Aamodt & Heggø (2018)

18. Rethink 4. brainstorms

19. picture: Yaron Okun

20. picture: Yaron Okun

21. Searching
ExplorationGaming
Navigation
Personalization
Relaxation
Creation
Collabo-
ration
Simulations

22. Explorative studies
Lessons along the way… (1)
• Commonalities & differences (observ.)
• Encourage users to use library services (intvw.)
• “On the fence” - Stimulate curiosity, “surprise”
• Rethink "classical" library catalog interaction (query)
• Utilizing usage logs & data for improvement
• “Personalizing" approaches
• Support study & leisure (brainst.)
• “Collaborate, Create, Personalize, Explore, Simulate,
Relax, Search, Navigate”

23. 2. Visualize

24. geo terms, e.g. Oslo, Finnmark, Göttingen,
Lillehammer etc.
genres, e.g. Biografier,
Ungdomslitteratur, Humor
temporal terms, e.g. 1900-tallet, 1990-
tallet
topics, e.g. Biologi,
Matematikk
relations, e.g. broader, narrower,
exactMatch
Variety of (visual) exploration options! Specific to
each vocabulary
Visualize 1. opportunities

25. Visualize 2. data processing

26. Visualize 3. examples (D3)
Force-directed diagrams
relations: DDC numbers (size: Amazon rating)

28. Word Clouds
words: book abstracts
colors: ratings

29. Interactive bar graphs
color: DDC, size: Amazon rating

30. Scatterplots
horizontal: DDC, vertical: Amazon rating
Lessons along the way… (2)
• Importance of data
• Enrich existing catalog data (covers, abstracts)
• Utilize subject vocabularies & mappings
• Suitability data, visualization & screen size
• some visualizations don’t ‘fit’ the data
• some visualizations don’t ‘fit’ the screen
• Usefulness of existing frameworks to speedup
development
• For instance, D3
• Large contrast with existing library catalogs & systems
• Need for testing novel tools..

31. 3. Connect physical & digital
physical
library
digital
library
usage
physical
library 1. collections
2. events
3. exhibitions

32. Connect 1. collections
Star Wars & Dr. Who

33. Stream 2: Physical Interaction
• Stream 1 & 3 build on top of
existing work and infrastructure
• Approach Stream 2:
experiment with novel ways of
interaction in physical space
• with library’s book
collections
• experiments with a touch
table (Science Library)
• Includes an INF2260 project &
INF Master project Yaron Okun
Visualiza-
tion (1)
Picture: Marina Tofting
Star Wars & Dr. Who

34. picture: Yaron Okun
SciFi Explorer

35. Video: Yaron Okun
SciFi Explorer

36. SciFi Recommendation Station

37. 3. Connect
SciFi Recommendation Station

38. SciFi Recommendation Station (lite)

39. Picture: Simen Kjellin
• F
• D
• In
fo
• S
• O
Connect 2. events
Hidden Figures

40. Picture: Simen Kjellin
Hidden Figures

41. Hidden Figures

42. Abel Prize 2017 & 2018

43. Abel Prize 2017 & 2018

44. Biokonferansen 2017

45. PhD Day 2018

46. Connect 3. exhibitions
Bonnevie Exhibition 2018
see: http://www.muv.uio.no/publikumstjenester/arrangementer/apner-4.-mai:-professor-bonnevies-arkiv.html

47. Connect physical & digital
physical
library
digital
library
usage
physical
library 1. collections
2. events
3. exhibitions
4. integrative
}

48. Connect 4. integrative approaches
CollectionXplorer
prototype
data-driven approach
interactive visualizations using enriched catalog data

49. emnesøk
extending subject search tool

50.
Lessons along the way… (3)
• A new object in the library..!
• “What is it?” “A touch table?” “Is it a freezer?”
• …some encouragement needed
• “Touch me!” icon
• Opportunities for integrating apps into library space
• Discussing 10 examples of touch apps
• Collection-focused: Science Fiction
• Event-focused: Abel Prize, Hidden Figures, ..
• Exhibition-focused: Bonnevie
• Integrative approaches

51. 4. Evaluate

52. 4. Evaluate

53. 4. Evaluate
Picture: Simen Kjellin

54. how much time do people spend?
when do people interact?

55. 4. Evaluate
where do people touch?

56. where do people touch? (2)

58. ]

59. where do people touch? (2)

61. The event-based applications shown in reading room
and foyer were each used in 200-300 sessions
during a temporary exhibition of approx. 4 weeks.
How many people used the apps?
Variety of numbers
• depending on placement
(in foyer, reading room, sci-fi collection, exhibition)
• and placement duration
(usually 2-4 weeks, sometimes longer)

62. Note: ‘honey pot’ effect (Brignull & Rogers, 2003)
at times, multiple people use a touch app simultaneously
How many people used the apps?

63. Can a touch app increase collection use?
Before: 29 sci-fi loans (3 in touch app)
for a 3 week period:
After: 81 sci-fi loans (11 in touch app)
+279% (+366%) ;-)

64.
Lessons along the way… (4)
• Developing a “toolbox” for analytics b/o usage data
• microticks: gather data
• python scripts: automatically summarize data
• Monitoring and detecting issues
• navigation: “clicks leading to nowhere”, swipes
• Unused app content (depth vs breadth)
• (Re)designs based on usage data
• Substantial usage of touch apps
• 1.000+ sessions (for 6 apps w/logs in different locations)
• Increase* of use SciFi collection

65. 5. Document & share

66. 5. Document & share
Workshop at VIRAK (12 June ’17)
nominated for VIRAK
NYSKAPENDE prize

67. v
5. Document & share
Visualization Workshop (14 June ’17)

68. 5. Document & share
Touch App Workshop (20 Nov ’17)

69. 5. Document & share
Focus on open-source tools, sharing of code and datasets

70. to be published
Upcoming paper
5. Document & share
download: noril.uib.no

71. @BookNavigation
5. Document & share
bit.ly/VisualNavigationProject

72. • Project background
• Explorative studies
• Visualizing library (meta)data
• Connecting digital & physical
• Documenting & sharing
6. Conclusion

73. Lessons along the journey…

74. General outcomes
• Applications
• how can we categorize created
applications?
• Guides & Tutorials
• how to create apps, visualize
library-related data?
• Reports & Papers
• what can we learn theoretically &
practically?
• Supportive Tools &
Datasets
• which tools & datasets can assist?

75. The collection in a
new light..
• The project has shown that more visual
approaches to navigation are feasible
• That they bring considerable
numbers of users in contact with
digital & physical collections
• Thus, these approaches can bring the collection
in a new light

76. The Value of…
1. Exploration
2. Data
3. Collaboration
4. Documentation & reuse
5. User Experience
6. Content

77. 1. Value of exploration

78. 1. Importance of exploration
• Traditional user studies
• Observations, surveys, transaction log study
• ‘Out of the box’ inspiration via open-ended
studies
• brainstorms, gigamapping, interviews

79. 2. Importance of data
• Metadata: Use and enrichment
• subject headings, classification, external data
• covers, abstracts, …
• Usage statistics
• Oria
• Custom-made tools (e.g. touch apps)

80. 3. Importance of
collaboration
• Relatively small project team (FTEs), but
• Collaboration subject specialists, event
organisers, designers, .. “everything in-house”
• “Library of our imagination” (motivation)
• Collaboration w/ informatics (int. design)
• Inspiration students
• Support of student projects (see e.g. Culen & Gasparini, 2015)

81. Examples: Collaboration
Book Motion (2013)
Real Fiction (2017)

82. 4. Value of documentation &
reuse
• Community building
• Updates via website, social media
• Sharing code via Github (scriptotek)
• Meetups & workshops for outreach and teaching
• Pragmatic approach - ‘Not reinventing the wheel’
• Purchase modules (eg pdf-reader), if needed
• Use of frameworks (e.g. XIMPEL.net)

83. 5. Value of UX
• “Nothing is as self-evident as it seems”
• E.g. user expectations, unclear navigation
• Before release: user testing
• After release: keep monitoring possible issues
•

85. 5. Belang van UX
• “Nothing is as self-evident as it seems”
• E.g. user expectations, unclear navigation
• Before release: user testing
• After release: keep monitoring possible issues
• Challenge: Optimizing for “first interaction”
• Goal of app, target audience
• “Attract screen”, app structure

86. …optimizing…
Higher depth of interaction in optimized apps

87. 6. Value of Content
• Appropriately dynamic content
• frequent shifting of applications
• retain curiosity in applications & touch
table
• Appropriately relevant content
• Relevant to interests, study, level, etc.
• Opportunity: personalization

88. Personalization
Touch Table
BookLibrary card
RFID
Obj

89. The Value of…
1. Exploration
2. Data
3. Collaboration
4. Documentation & reuse
5. User Experience
6. Content
Opportunity: library is the perfect place for all this!

90. “It is still possible to dream..”

91. “It is still possible to dream..”

92. ..big thanks!
• University of Oslo Library:
• Live Rasmussen, Helge Mjelde, Heidi Rustad
• Nina Thodesen, Mikaela Aamodt @ Med Lib
• Dan Michael Heggø, Kyrre Traavik Låberg @ Science Lib
• all UB colleagues, also at Digital Services, HumSam & Law Libraries
• University of Oslo
• Interaction Design students, Alma Culén
• All study participants
• All other collaborating colleagues, and departments
• National Library of Norway
• XIMPEL.net
• Winoe Bhikharie

93. ?

94. Want to know more?
• More project info at bit.ly/visualnavigationproject
• (ub.uio.no/om/prosjekter/the-visualisation-project/)

95. References
• Björneborn, L. (2008). Serendipity dimensions and users’ information behaviour in the physical
library interface. Information Research.
• Blandford, A., Rimmer, J., & Warwick, C. (2006). Experiences of the library in the digital age.
Presented at the Third International Conference “Cultural Convergence and Digital Technology”.
• Brignull, H., & Rogers, Y. (2003). Enticing People to Interact with Large Public Displays in Public
Spaces (pp. 17–24). INTERACT’03, IOS Press.
• Culén, A. L., & Gasparini, A. A. (2015). HCI and Design Thinking: Effects on Innovation in the
Academic Library. In Computer Graphics, Visualization, Computer Vision and Image Processing
(pp. 3–10).
• Huurdeman, H. C., Aamodt, M., & Heggø, D. M. (2018). “More than Meets the Eye” - Analyzing the
Success of User Queries in Oria. Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education, 10(1),
18–36.
• McKay, D., Chang, S., & Smith, W. (2017). Manoeuvres in the Dark: Design Implications of the
Physical Mechanics of Library Shelf Browsing. In Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on
Conference Human Information Interaction and Retrieval (pp. 47–56). New York, NY, USA: ACM.
• Okun, Y. (2017). Design for nysgjerrighet: hvordan gjøre realfagstudenter nysgjerrige på science
fiction? (Master’s Thesis). University of Oslo, Oslo.
• Pomerantz, J., & Marchionini, G. (2007). The digital library as place. Journal of Documentation,
63(4), 505–533.

96. Mikaela Aamodt | Dan Michael Heggø | Hugo Huurdeman | Helge Mjelde | Live Rasmussen | Heidi Rustad | Kyrre Låberg | Nina Thodesen
University of Oslo Library
bit.ly/VisualNavigationProject
Breakfast meeting: Project Outcomes
Presentation by Hugo C. Huurdeman, 15 June, 2018