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ToonNote: Improving Communication in Computational Notebooks Using Interactive Data Comics

Published: 07 May 2021 Publication History

Editorial Notes

The authors have requested minor, non-substantive changes to the VoR and, in accordance with ACM policies, a Corrected VoR was published on June 3, 2021. For reference purposes the VoR may still be accessed via the Supplemental Material section on this page.

Abstract

Computational notebooks help data analysts analyze and visualize datasets, and share analysis procedures and outputs. However, notebooks typically combine code (e.g., Python scripts), notes, and outputs (e.g., tables, graphs). The combination of disparate materials is known to hinder the comprehension of notebooks, making it difficult for analysts to collaborate with other analysts unfamiliar with the dataset. To mitigate this problem, we introduce ToonNote, a JupyterLab extension that enables the conversion of notebooks into “data comics.” ToonNote provides a simplified view of a Jupyter notebook, highlighting the most important results while supporting interactive and free exploration of the dataset. This paper presents the results of a formative study that motivated the system, its implementation, and an evaluation with 12 users, demonstrating the effectiveness of the produced comics. We discuss how our findings inform the future design of interfaces for computational notebooks and features to support diverse collaborators.

Supplementary Material

3445434-vor (3445434-vor.pdf)
Version of Record for "ToonNote: Improving Communication in Computational Notebooks Using Interactive Data Comics" by Kang et al., Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '21).
Supplementary Materials (3411764.3445434_supplementalmaterials.zip)

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      cover image ACM Conferences
      CHI '21: Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
      May 2021
      10862 pages
      ISBN:9781450380966
      DOI:10.1145/3411764
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      Published: 07 May 2021

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      1. computational notebooks
      2. data comics
      3. data summarization
      4. multi-level interface

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