A Bidirectional Pipeline for Semantic Interaction in Visual Analytics

Abstract

Semantic interaction in visual data analytics allows users to indirectly adjust model parameters by directly manipulating the output of the models. This is accomplished using an underlying bidirectional pipeline that first uses statistical models to visualize the raw data. When a user interacts with the visualization, the interaction is interpreted into updates in the model parameters automatically, giving the users immediate feedback on each interaction. These interpreted interactions eliminate the need for a deep understanding of the underlying statistical models. However, the development of such tools is necessarily complex due to their interactive nature. Furthermore, each tool defines its own unique pipeline to suit its needs, which leads to difficulty experimenting with different types of data, models, interaction techniques, and visual encodings. To address this issue, we present a flexible multi-model bidirectional pipeline for prototyping visual analytics tools that rely on semantic interaction. The pipeline has plug-and-play functionality, enabling quick alterations to the type of data being visualized, how models transform the data, and interaction methods. In so doing, the pipeline enforces a separation between the data pipeline and the visualization, preventing the two from becoming codependent. To show the flexibility of the pipeline, we demonstrate a new visual analytics tool and several distinct variations, each of which were quickly and easily implemented with slight changes to the pipeline or client.