Understanding Spatial and Non-spatial Cues in Representing Categorical Information

Abstract

The continuously increasing amount of digital information available to computer users has led to the wide use of notification systems. Although these systems could support the management of information, they could also be an interruption to primary work. To minimize this interruption, a number of approaches, which notify the different categorical information, have been introduced. In this work, we focused on understanding the effectiveness of different types of visual cues to effectively represent categorical notification. Five basic visual parameters of motion, colour, shape, motion and spatial were chosen to represent sets of two categories, four categories, six categories and eight categories of information. The effectiveness of these visual cues in assisting users’ ability to decode the categorical cues was examined through a series of experimental studies. Findings suggest the superiority of using colour, shape, and spatial cues to represent categorical information. Post experiment questionnaire reveals possible reasons for their efficiency. Spatial memory supports spatial cues while linguistic influence supports the shape/colour cues. The unsuitability of size parameter is possibly due to not being able to measure the cues against something during the encoding process. This makes it difficult to determine how each cue differs from the rest of the cues in the parameter, especially when number of categories increase. As for the motion parameter, encoding the cues took far longer response times, although time taken is consistent across number of categories. The different effects of these basic visual cues suggest the importance of careful design selection to ensure successful visualization.