Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Hanin Alzahrani, Dr Sara Johansson Fernstad
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Network biology has become crucial to understanding the complex structural characteristics of biological systems. Consequently, advanced visualization approaches are needed to support the investigation of such structures, and several network visualization tools have subsequently been developed to help researchers analyze intricate biological networks. While these tools support a range of analytical and interactive features, it is sometimes unclear to a data analyst or visualization designer which features are of most relevance to biologists. Thus, this study investigates and identifies essential factors for the visualization of complex biological networks using a mixed methodology approach. Based on the findings, essential factors were categorized as either generic and heuristic, where the former concern different analytical and interactive functionalities, such as an efficient layout, advanced search capabilities, plugin availability, graph analysis and user-friendliness, while the latter concern usability, such as information coding, flexibility, orientation and help.1 Furthermore, the findings indicate that 12 of the 15 generic factors identified were moderately important, while all 10 heuristic factors identified herein were moderately important.
Author(s): Alzahrani H, Fernstad S
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Information Visualization
Year: 2023
Volume: 22
Issue: 4
Pages: 323-339
Print publication date: 01/10/2023
Online publication date: 15/06/2023
Acceptance date: 26/05/2023
Date deposited: 10/12/2024
ISSN (print): 1473-8716
ISSN (electronic): 1473-8724
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/14738716231181545
DOI: 10.1177/14738716231181545
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
