Supporting Collaborative Information Analysis with Interactive Visualization

Collaborative information analysis is a form of sensemaking wherein a team identifies, analyzes, and represents a complex information space of facts and relationships to evaluate causal hypotheses. A common example of collaborative information analysis is crime investigation; a variety of putative facts are assembled, including financial records, witness observations and interviews, and social connections of various sorts among persons of interest, from which investigators collaboratively assess means, motives, and opportunities, articulate and investigate hypotheses. Other examples include intelligence analysis, scientific research, and social learning.