Visualizing usability log data

Our approach to testing graphical user interfaces involves logging large amounts of data. These logs capture information at the key press and mouse click level about how an application is used. Since the raw data is voluminous and not at a useful level of detail, we use analysis and visualization to find information that is interesting and useful to a usability analyst but was previously buried in the data. We call some of our custom visualizations “contextual” meaning they use key elements of the context the data was collected in as an organizing structure. We expect this type of visualization to be easier and faster to understand and more helpful than traditional charts. We hope that our finding a natural geometry for these visualizations will inspire others whose data apparently has no inherent geometry to find natural ways to visualize their data