D-Tour: Semi-Automatic Generation of Interactive Guided Tours for Visualization Dashboard Onboarding.

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Data Visualization
• Educational Technology

Background:

• Onboarding users to complex visualization dashboards is challenging, often leading to user confusion or disengagement.
• Current authoring methods for dashboard onboarding are time-consuming and lack expert guidance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce interactive dashboard tours (D-Tours) as a semi-automated onboarding solution.
• To enhance user engagement and preserve learner agency during dashboard exploration.
• To provide a tool for authors to create customized, interactive onboarding experiences.

Main Methods:

• Developed the D-TOUR Prototype tool for creating interactive dashboard tours.
• Incorporated principles from open-world game design for user-driven navigation.
• Enabled customization of tours with various media (video, audio, highlighting) and narratives.
• Evaluated the system through use cases and expert interviews.

Main Results:

• Authors found the D-TOUR Prototype automation helpful and time-saving.
• Users reported that the created tours were engaging and intuitive.
• The D-Tours approach effectively caters to users with diverse expertise levels.

Conclusions:

• Interactive dashboard tours provide an effective and engaging method for onboarding users to visualization dashboards.
• The D-TOUR Prototype successfully supports authors in creating tailored and efficient onboarding experiences.
• Semi-automated, agency-preserving tours are beneficial for both onboarding efficiency and user experience.