Visual Metaphors for Workplace Well-Being: Design of an Experience-Driven Information Visualization
Putkonen, Emmi (2022)
2022
Master's Programme in Human-Technology Interaction
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2022-06-01
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202205245214
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202205245214
Tiivistelmä
Mental well-being in knowledge work has become an emerging issue in workplaces. Stress might cause several health issues, and thus organizations should make a special effort to sup-port stress management and healthier workplaces. The Technical Research Center of Finland (VTT) is currently developing novel ways for workplaces to continuously measure and visualize employees’ stress in the context of knowledge work. Organization Barometer is a tool used to visualize the current state of employees’ well-being helping teams to intervene in well-being issues before they escalate. In such personal informatics (PI) systems, information visualization drives an essential part. As prior research shows good results in implementing metaphors in information visualization. However, selecting a suitable metaphor is essential in creating desired experiences through the system.
Thus, a novel metaphor for visualizing well-being in the context of knowledge work was discovered with a probe study and semi-structured interviews. Two initial visualizations of a desktop widget were designed based on the defined visual metaphor. Finally, these visualizations were evaluated to see how they succeed in transferring information and how the target group experiences the concept. The results showed that the designed visualization utilizing the sky metaphor presenting employees’ moods was experienced as more attractive and pleasant than the more traditional chart presentation of the same data. Meanwhile, the evaluation gathered controversial thoughts regarding the inaccurate presentation. The result showed that for some, vague presentation is good as well-being is also a vague concept, while some desired exact data, and had trouble interpreting the information.
The final desktop widget was designed based on the evaluation results. Metaphorical information visualization met the set criteria for visualizing well-being data in the shared context of the workplace. The final design aimed to solve issues raised in the evaluation. However, more research on the systems’ effects in the real context is needed.
Thus, a novel metaphor for visualizing well-being in the context of knowledge work was discovered with a probe study and semi-structured interviews. Two initial visualizations of a desktop widget were designed based on the defined visual metaphor. Finally, these visualizations were evaluated to see how they succeed in transferring information and how the target group experiences the concept. The results showed that the designed visualization utilizing the sky metaphor presenting employees’ moods was experienced as more attractive and pleasant than the more traditional chart presentation of the same data. Meanwhile, the evaluation gathered controversial thoughts regarding the inaccurate presentation. The result showed that for some, vague presentation is good as well-being is also a vague concept, while some desired exact data, and had trouble interpreting the information.
The final desktop widget was designed based on the evaluation results. Metaphorical information visualization met the set criteria for visualizing well-being data in the shared context of the workplace. The final design aimed to solve issues raised in the evaluation. However, more research on the systems’ effects in the real context is needed.