Formalizing Analytical Discourse in Visual Analytics

This paper presents a theory of analytical discourse and a formal model of the intentional structure of visual analytic reasoning process. Our model rests on the theory of collaborative discourse, and allows for cooperative human-machine communication in visual interactive dialogues. Using a sample discourse from a crisis management scenario, we demonstrated the utility of our theory in characterizing the discourse context and collaboration. In particular, we view analytical discourse as plans consisting of complex mental attitude towards analytical tasks and issues. Under this view, human reasoning and computational analysis become integral part of the collaborative plan that evolves through discourse.