Tactile Presentation of Network Data: Text, Matrix or Diagram?
This addresses accessibility for blind or low-vision users in network visualization, but it is incremental as it aligns with existing visual findings.
The study tackled the problem of presenting network data to blind or low-vision individuals by comparing four tactile representations, finding that node-link diagrams were preferred and more effective for path following and cluster identification, while matrix and list performed better for adjacency tasks.
Visualisations are commonly used to understand social, biological and other kinds of networks. Currently, we do not know how to effectively present network data to people who are blind or have low-vision (BLV). We ran a controlled study with 8 BLV participants comparing four tactile representations: organic node-link diagram, grid node-link diagram, adjacency matrix and braille list. We found that the node-link representations were preferred and more effective for path following and cluster identification while the matrix and list were better for adjacency tasks. This is broadly in line with findings for the corresponding visual representations.