Abstract
Fotovis is a tool for visualizing, exploring, and analyzing photographic collections. It is a partial result of a PhD thesis that investigated alternative, visual, and more generous browsing strategies — based on Digital Humanities — for digital tools. This paper discusses how Fotovis was conceived, developed (at the prototype level), and evaluated (at the interface level), through a user-centered approach and using a sample of photographs from the Moreira Salles Institute, an important Brazilian cultural entity. The goal is to highlight the definition of the users of Fotovis, and the design decisions that meet their exploratory and analytical needs.
Highlights
Fotovis is a web-based tool for visualizing, exploring, and analyzing digital photographic collections (DPC)
The remainder of the paper is structured as follows: the Related Work section provides an overview of data visualization and user modelling approaches to digital cultural heritage (DCH), as well as existing tools for visualizing image collections; the Case Study section covers the methodological framework in which Fotovis was undertaken as a Digital Humanities project, with a focus on discussing the context and needs of prospective users of the tool as well as its design solution; and the User Tests section describes how Fotovis successfully offers discovery and interaction experiences with photographic collections and how it can be improved
DPC users: the contrast between expert and novice is an adequate abstraction for framing user categories in the DCH context, these two stereotypes alone do not address the particular expectations of consultants interested in photographic collections
Summary
Fotovis is a web-based tool for visualizing, exploring, and analyzing digital photographic collections (DPC) It is designed for different user profiles and is partially the result of a doctoral thesis (Giannella, 2020) that investigated the visual exploration of cultural collections from the observation that there is a growing interest in framing collections as data. Design contributes to the Digital Humanities through: collaborating with its user-centered approach; best practices in information design, interface, interaction, and navigation in digital environments; and the development of solutions to interpret data graphically Within this approach, the aim of this paper is to highlight the definition of users of a tool for visually browsing DPC, as well as the design decisions that meet their exploratory and analytical needs. The remainder of the paper is structured as follows: the Related Work section provides an overview of data visualization and user modelling approaches to digital cultural heritage (DCH), as well as existing tools for visualizing image collections; the Case Study section covers the methodological framework in which Fotovis was undertaken as a Digital Humanities project, with a focus on discussing the context and needs of prospective users of the tool as well as its design solution; and the User Tests section describes how Fotovis successfully offers discovery and interaction experiences with photographic collections and how it can be improved
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: InfoDesign - Revista Brasileira de Design da Informação
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
