Histogram-based Visualizations for Large Time Dependent Datasets

In this paper we describe the design of prototypes of histogram-based visualizations for browsing large, timedependent collections of data. These visualizations are intended to provide an alternative to the standard hierarchical file browsing metaphor currently available, and are used to expose time-related information from the underlying dataset that would not be apparent using standard file browsers. The visualizations are also designed to provide a method of browsing that does not require knowledge of the underlying file storage architecture, as well as to be able to scale to large data stores. Two prototype visualizations are designed and presented to a small group of users to determine if the histogram-based metaphor for file browsing and visualization of large data collections is intuitive and usable.