Yating Wei

Rusheng Pan, Zhiyong Wang, Yating Wei et al.

A computational graph in a deep neural network (DNN) denotes a specific data flow diagram (DFD) composed of many tensors and operators. Existing toolkits for visualizing computational graphs are not applicable when the structure is highly complicated and large-scale (e.g., BERT [1]). To address this problem, we propose leveraging a suite of visual simplification techniques, including a cycle-removing method, a module-based edge-pruning algorithm, and an isomorphic subgraph stacking strategy. We design and implement an interactive visualization system that is suitable for computational graphs with up to 10 thousand elements. Experimental results and usage scenarios demonstrate that our tool reduces 60% elements on average and hence enhances the performance for recognizing and diagnosing DNN models. Our contributions are integrated into an open-source DNN visualization toolkit, namely, MindInsight [2].

Wei Chen, Yating Wei, Zhiyong Wang et al.

We present a novel privacy preservation strategy for decentralized visualization. The key idea is to imitate the flowchart of the federated learning framework, and reformulate the visualization process within a federated infrastructure. The federation of visualization is fulfilled by leveraging a shared global module that composes the encrypted externalizations of transformed visual features of data pieces in local modules. We design two implementations of federated visualization: a prediction-based scheme, and a query-based scheme. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach with a set of visual forms, and verify its robustness with evaluations. We report the value of federated visualization in real scenarios with an expert review.

Honghui Mei, Wei Chen, Yating Wei et al.

Analysts commonly investigate the data distributions derived from statistical aggregations of data that are represented by charts, such as histograms and binned scatterplots, to visualize and analyze a large-scale dataset. Aggregate queries are implicitly executed through such a process. Datasets are constantly extremely large; thus, the response time should be accelerated by calculating predefined data cubes. However, the queries are limited to the predefined binning schema of preprocessed data cubes. Such limitation hinders analysts' flexible adjustment of visual specifications to investigate the implicit patterns in the data effectively. Particularly, RSATree enables arbitrary queries and flexible binning strategies by leveraging three schemes, namely, an R-tree-based space partitioning scheme to catch the data distribution, a locality-sensitive hashing technique to achieve locality-preserving random access to data items, and a summed area table scheme to support interactive query of aggregated values with a linear computational complexity. This study presents and implements a web-based visual query system that supports visual specification, query, and exploration of large-scale tabular data with user-adjustable granularities. We demonstrate the efficiency and utility of our approach by performing various experiments on real-world datasets and analyzing time and space complexity.

Yating Wei, Honghui Mei, Ying Zhao et al.

Scatterplots are frequently scaled to fit display areas in multi-view and multi-device data analysis environments. A common method used for scaling is to enlarge or shrink the entire scatterplot together with the inside points synchronously and proportionally. This process is called geometric scaling. However, geometric scaling of scatterplots may cause a perceptual bias, that is, the perceived and physical values of visual features may be dissociated with respect to geometric scaling. For example, if a scatterplot is projected from a laptop to a large projector screen, then observers may feel that the scatterplot shown on the projector has fewer points than that viewed on the laptop. This paper presents an evaluation study on the perceptual bias of visual features in scatterplots caused by geometric scaling. The study focuses on three fundamental visual features (i.e., numerosity, correlation, and cluster separation) and three hypotheses that are formulated on the basis of our experience. We carefully design three controlled experiments by using well-prepared synthetic data and recruit participants to complete the experiments on the basis of their subjective experience. With a detailed analysis of the experimental results, we obtain a set of instructive findings. First, geometric scaling causes a bias that has a linear relationship with the scale ratio. Second, no significant difference exists between the biases measured from normally and uniformly distributed scatterplots. Third, changing the point radius can correct the bias to a certain extent. These findings can be used to inspire the design decisions of scatterplots in various scenarios.