Visualizing visualizations: User interfaces for managing and exploring scientific visualization data

Significant efforts have gone into advancing visualization technology but little into coherently representing the data exploration process and results of visualization. By incorporating into and becoming part of the user interface of a data exploration system, the visual representation process can make the process more efficient and effective. It is necessary to go beyond the traditional graphical user interface (GUI) design by coupling it with a mechanism that helps users keep track of their visualization experience, use it to generate new visualizations, and share it with others. Doing so can reduce visualization cost, particularly for routine analysis of large-scale data sets.