The DeepTree exhibit: Visualizing the tree of life to facilitate informal learning

Florian Block; Michael S. Horn; Brenda Caldwell Phillips; Judy Diamond; E. Margaret Evans; Chia Shen

doi:10.1109/TVCG.2012.272

The DeepTree exhibit: Visualizing the tree of life to facilitate informal learning

Florian Block^*, Michael S. Horn, Brenda Caldwell Phillips, Judy Diamond, E. Margaret Evans, Chia Shen

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Education and Social Policy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

54 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this paper, we present the DeepTree exhibit, a multi-user, multi-touch interactive visualization of the Tree of Life. We developed DeepTree to facilitate collaborative learning of evolutionary concepts. We will describe an iterative process in which a team of computer scientists, learning scientists, biologists, and museum curators worked together throughout design, development, and evaluation. We present the importance of designing the interactions and the visualization hand-in-hand in order to facilitate active learning. The outcome of this process is a fractal-based tree layout that reduces visual complexity while being able to capture all life on earth; a custom rendering and navigation engine that prioritizes visual appeal and smooth fly-through; and a multi-user interface that encourages collaborative exploration while offering guided discovery. We present an evaluation showing that the large dataset encouraged free exploration, triggers emotional responses, and facilitates visitor engagement and informal learning.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	6327285
Pages (from-to)	2789-2798
Number of pages	10
Journal	IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
Volume	18
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2012.272
State	Published - 2012

Funding

We thank the Harvard Museum of Natural History, for allowing us to conduct this research in their galleries. We also thank our science advisers: Gonzalo Giribets, James Hanken, Hopi E. Hoekstra, Jonathan Losos, David Mindell, and Mark Westneat. Thanks to Sebastian Velez for selecting our signpost species and for his constructive feedback. We thank the National Science Foundation for their support of this project (DRL-1010889). Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Keywords

Informal science education
collaborative learning
large tree visualizations
multi-touch interaction

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Software
Signal Processing
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

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10.1109/TVCG.2012.272

Cite this

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title = "The DeepTree exhibit: Visualizing the tree of life to facilitate informal learning",

abstract = "In this paper, we present the DeepTree exhibit, a multi-user, multi-touch interactive visualization of the Tree of Life. We developed DeepTree to facilitate collaborative learning of evolutionary concepts. We will describe an iterative process in which a team of computer scientists, learning scientists, biologists, and museum curators worked together throughout design, development, and evaluation. We present the importance of designing the interactions and the visualization hand-in-hand in order to facilitate active learning. The outcome of this process is a fractal-based tree layout that reduces visual complexity while being able to capture all life on earth; a custom rendering and navigation engine that prioritizes visual appeal and smooth fly-through; and a multi-user interface that encourages collaborative exploration while offering guided discovery. We present an evaluation showing that the large dataset encouraged free exploration, triggers emotional responses, and facilitates visitor engagement and informal learning.",

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year = "2012",

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AU - Shen, Chia

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The DeepTree exhibit: Visualizing the tree of life to facilitate informal learning

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