Science-Fiction Transformation as a Design Lens for Visualization Transformation

Science fiction often features characters or objects that undergo radical changes in form while still being recognizable as the same entity. For example, a vehicle might unfold into a robot, or one body might flow or shape-shift into another. We use such transformations as a reflective lens to study similar shape-shifting in visualization, where one visual representation transforms into a completely different one. For example, a node-link diagram might transform into a parallel coordinates plot as a user's task changes from understanding relationships to identifying correlations. Based on four instances of science-fiction transformation, our paper highlights two key questions: First, why is a transformation into a target form needed, or what is the purpose? Second, what remains recognizable across the transformation from source to target, or what is the correspondence? Through four hypothetical transitions between visual representations of a multifaceted dataset, we demonstrate that purpose is also essential to visualization transformations. Furthermore, we show that the question of correspondence results in different levels of complexity in terms of designing and understanding transitions. Depending on whether correspondence is 1:1, 1:N, or N:1, visualization transformations may be direct and easy to understand, or they may require more elaborate transition constructs, implying increased cognitive effort for interpretation. Particularly, cases of 1:N and N:1 correspondence pose challenges for designing visualization transformations.