Users’ Cognitive Load: A Key Aspect to Successfully Communicate Visual Climate Information
Cita com:
hdl:2117/363579
Tipus de documentArticle
Data publicació2022-01
EditorAmerican Meteorological Society
Condicions d'accésAccés obert
Tots els drets reservats. Aquesta obra està protegida pels drets de propietat intel·lectual i
industrial corresponents. Sense perjudici de les exempcions legals existents, queda prohibida la seva
reproducció, distribució, comunicació pública o transformació sense l'autorització del titular dels drets
ProjecteS2S4E - Sub-seasonal to Seasonal climate forecasting for Energy (EC-H2020-776787)
EUCP - European Climate Prediction system (EC-H2020-776613)
ERA4CS - European Research Area for Climate Services (EC-H2020-690462)
EUCP - European Climate Prediction system (EC-H2020-776613)
ERA4CS - European Research Area for Climate Services (EC-H2020-690462)
Abstract
The visual communication of climate information is one of the cornerstones of climate services. It often requires the translation of multidimensional data to visual channels by combining colors, distances, angles, and glyph sizes. However, visualizations including too many layers of complexity can hinder decision-making processes by limiting the cognitive capacity of users, therefore affecting their attention, recognition, and working memory. Methodologies grounded on the fields of user-centered design, user interaction, and cognitive psychology, which are based on the needs of the users, have a lot to contribute to the climate data visualization field. Here, we apply these methodologies to the redesign of an existing climate service tool tailored to the wind energy sector. We quantify the effect of the redesign on the users’ experience performing typical daily tasks, using both quantitative and qualitative indicators that include response time, success ratios, eye-tracking measures, user perceived effort, and comments, among others. Changes in the visual encoding of uncertainty and the use of interactive elements in the redesigned tool reduced the users’ response time by half, significantly improved success ratios, and eased decision-making by filtering nonrelevant information. Our results show that the application of user-centered design, interaction, and cognitive aspects to the design of climate information visualizations reduces the cognitive load of users during tasks performance, thus improving user experience. These aspects are key to successfully communicating climate information in a clearer and more accessible way, making it more understandable for both technical and nontechnical audiences.
CitacióCalvo, L. [et al.]. Users' Cognitive Load: A Key Aspect to Successfully Communicate Visual Climate Information. "Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS)", 2022, vol. 103, núm. 1, p. E1-E16.
ISSN1520-0477
Col·leccions
Fitxers | Descripció | Mida | Format | Visualitza |
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[15200477 - Bul ... e Visual Climate Infor.pdf | 1,242Mb | Visualitza/Obre |