Tangible BioNets

Abstract

Biological networks analysis has become a systematic and large-scale phenomenon. Most biological systems are often difficult to interpret due to the complexity of relationships and structural features. Moreover, existing primarily web-based interfaces for biological networks analysis often have limitations in usability as well as in supporting high-level reasoning and collaboration. Interactive surfaces coupled with tangible interactions offer opportunities to improve the comparison and analysis of large biological networks, which can aid researchers in making hypotheses and forming insights. We present Tangible BioNets, an active tangible and multi-surface system that allows users with diverse expertise to explore and understand the structural and functional aspects of biological organisms individually or collaboratively. The system was designed through an iterative co-design process and facilitates the exploration of biological network topology, catalyzing the generation of new insights. We describe a first informal evaluation with expert users and discuss considerations for designing tangible and multi-surface systems for large biological datasets.