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Narrative algorithm visualization

Published: 04 September 2006 Publication History

Abstract

Visualization of algorithms has been shown to be a useful aid for educational purposes. In this work we focus on the creation of algorithm visualizations based on viewing the visualization as a narrative. This view promotes the creator to form a central plot and define abstract participating players. Following this view, the basic elements defining a visualization, namely visual metaphors and temporal transitions - are naturally addressed. The players which signify abstract notions in the algorithm define the depictions, and the story defines the transition over time. This encourages the creator to focus on the mapping process that is the basis of any visual depiction, and helps create a more engaging visualization. We present a study comparing two visualizations, a narrative one and a non-narrative one that supports the effectiveness of the narrative approach.

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cover image ACM Conferences
SoftVis '06: Proceedings of the 2006 ACM symposium on Software visualization
September 2006
199 pages
ISBN:1595934642
DOI:10.1145/1148493
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 04 September 2006

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Author Tags

  1. algorithm-animation
  2. algorithm-visualization
  3. narrative

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