Newly joined faculty member Professor Anamaria Crisan was recognized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)’s Computer Graphics and Applications (CG&A) for her trailblazing research on data design practices and tools for novice users.
Professor Crisan was part of a team that received the runner-up recognition from the journal, an award conferred to a research paper for its novelty, number of downloads, citations and impact. They were recognized for their paper, Finding Their Data Voice: Practices and Challenges of Dashboard Users.
IEEE CG&A is a leading publication in the field of computer graphics. Since 1981, it covers various topics from animation to virtual and augmented reality systems to medical imaging.
“It is an honour to have this work recognized by our peers in the visualization and analytics research community for its contributions to advancing a human-centred approach to data science,” says Professor Crisan. She published this work while working as a Lead Research Scientist at Tableau, which is renowned for its user-friendly data visualization and analytics tools. Notably, Salesforce, a popular customer-relationship management company, has been employing Tableau’s products since acquiring it in 2019.
“This research underscores the importance of understanding and amplifying the experiences of everyday individuals who rely on data – whether to improve their business, connect with customers, or make sense of their personal health,” Professor Crisan said. “By framing their analysis practices as dynamic 'data conversations,' our work reveals the need for more inclusive and relevant analysis tools that empower a wider audience of data workers. This award affirms the value of bridging the gap between technical innovation and real-world impact, paving the way to a more equitable technology landscape where data-driven insights are accessible to all.”
Professor Ana Crisan won the Runner-Up for IEEE's Best Paper Award. Her paper focuses on “dashboard users,” who engage with and analyze data, but for whom it isn’t the main part of their role. Her team analyzed their common work practices and challenges, calling for researchers to build more inclusive data tools.
The paper focuses “dashboard users,” who are users who engage with and analyze data, but for whom it isn’t the main part of their role. Unlike data professionals, such users do not build their own data-driven tools, also known as dashboards. Instead, they rely on existing platforms such as Google Analytics or Tableau.
Despite dashboard users’ prevalence in most industries, they have been overlooked by researchers because they engage with data sporadically and their work is deemed as simplistic. As a result, their needs are misunderstood or ill-supported, causing them to have limited analytical skills and awkward workflows.
Professor Crisan and her collaborators examined dashboard users’ common work practices, tools and strategies. Unlike data professionals, dashboard users value “conversations around data,” like gathering insights and creating reports to share information with stakeholders, just as much as “conversations with data,” such as summarizing metrics and auditing records. In essence, they are interested in using data to build narratives, not just consumption.
As a result, they use other tools to redefine this data, leading to a fragmented workflow. For example, a sales team may use Google Analytics, a popular dashboard, to collect sales metrics, but may use PowerPoint to create reports or use Excel for calculations. Overall, dashboards aren’t quite productive for dashboard users because they are using various tools for the same task.
By revealing these unique practices of novice data users, this paper urges for better designs, such as an all-inclusive platform for data monitoring and remodelling.