KCA UNIVERSITY
MDA – Human Perception & Information Visualization
Question 1 is compulsory
Answer any other 2 Questions
Time Allowed: 2 Hours
QUESTION ONE (20 MARKS)
a) A useful starting point for designing advanced graphical user interfaces is the
Visual Information-Seeking Mantra. DISCUSS this Mantra.
(6 Marks)
b) A pre-attentive visual property is one that is processed in spatial memory without
our conscious action. In essence it takes less than 500 milliseconds for the eye
and the brain to process a pre-attentive property of any image. EXPLAIN using
specific examples, the relevance of at least 3 (three) of these features.
(6 Marks)
c) Visual analytics has lately been differentiating the field of Information
Visualization. Its definition is “Visual analytics is the science of analytical reasoning
facilitated by interactive visual interfaces”. DESCRIBE what you feel are aspects
that this new field includes and which distinguishes it from Information
Visualization.
(4 Marks)
d) DESCRIBE software functionalities and environment that enhances the pursuits of
an exploratory goal in visualization.
(4 Marks)
QUESTION TWO (15 MARKS)
a) Think of three activities you perform on a daily or weekly basis that you currently
do without visualization, but that could potentially benefit from the introduction of
visual tools. DESCRIBE some ideas for displaying the data or information and for
interacting with the resulting views.
(7 Marks)
b) These days, many people carry small, portable display devices with them, such
as mobile phones and PDAs.
i) DISCUSS the ramifications of migrating to a small display for the
visualization techniques.
(4 Marks)
ii) WHICH mappings maintain most of their benefits when scaling occurs?
What strategies might you pursue to allow viewers access to the same
or similar resolution of information?
(4 Marks)
QUESTION THREE (15 MARKS)
a) HIGHLIGHT major design consideration in information visualization
(6 Marks)
b) Examine the functionality of two visualization tools that focus on the same
type of data, one commercial and one public domain.
i) HOW would you characterize their major similarities and differences?
(5 Marks)
ii) Under WHAT conditions, and for what reasons, would you choose to
use one over the other (besides, of course, the cost)?
(4 Marks)
QUESTION FOUR (15 MARKS)
DISCUSS how the Technology Acceptance Model and the Diffusion of Innovations
theory can be deployed to develop a framework for evaluating information
visualization adoption.
(15 Marks)
