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A comparative analysis for visualizing the temporal evolution of contact networks: a user study

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Abstract

Temporal networks are widely used to map phenomena into complex systems in several research disciplines, such as computer science, business, and biology. Several layouts can be used in visual analyses of temporal networks. The identification of the most suitable for a given task is, however, not trivial. This paper presents a user study that analyzes the performance of four different layouts: Massive Sequence View (MSV), Temporal Activity Map, matrix animation, and structural animation, when applied to pattern detection tasks of time-evolving networks. Our results show that all four layouts are appropriate to perform the evaluated tasks; however, the structural animation and MSV scored higher across different types of users.

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Notes

  1. DyNetVis is freely available at www.dynetvis.com

  2. www.python.org

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—CNPq [grant number 456855/2014-9], Coordenação de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES PrInt—Grant number 88881.311513/ 2018-01), and São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP—Grants number 2020/10049-0, 2016/17078-0). The authors also thank SocioPatterns for making available the network data sets used in this paper. Claudio Linhares thanks Professor Bruce Cronin for partial financial support during his visit to the Centre for Business Network Analysis at the University of Greenwich, UK, in the summer of 2019.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Mathematics and Computer Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, Brazil

    Claudio D. G. Linhares

  2. Faculty of Computing, Federal University of Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Brazil

    Claudio D. G. Linhares, Jean R. Ponciano, Jose Gustavo S. Paiva & Bruno A. N. Travençolo

  3. Department of Economics and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Luis E. C. Rocha

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  1. Claudio D. G. Linhares
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Linhares, C.D.G., Ponciano, J.R., Paiva, J.G.S. et al. A comparative analysis for visualizing the temporal evolution of contact networks: a user study. J Vis 24, 1011–1031 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12650-021-00759-x

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