Understanding and characterizing insights

TLDR

Insight remains poorly understood in information visualization, despite being a primary goal of the field. The study shifts focus from defining insight to investigating how people gain insights. The authors reviewed InfoVis literature and drew on sensemaking research to highlight the procedural aspects of insight acquisition. They identified that insights are typically seen as end results, that procedures are largely hidden, and that four distinct processes—Provide Overview, Adjust, Detect Pattern, and Match Mental Model—offer guidance for insight generation.

Abstract

Even though "providing insight" has been considered one of the main purposes of information visualization (InfoVis), we feel that insight is still a not-well-understood concept in this context. Inspired by research in sensemaking, we realized the importance of the procedural aspects in understanding insight. Thus, rather than asking "What is insight?" we instead focus on "How do people gain insights?" In an effort to better understand and characterize insight, we reviewed previous literature in InfoVis, seeking other researchers' comments and views on this concept. We found that: 1) Insights are often regarded as end results of using InfoVis and the procedures to gain insight have been largely veiled; 2) Four largely distinctive processes of gaining insight (Provide Overview, Adjust, Detect Pattern, and Match Mental Model) have been discussed in the InfoVis literature; and 3) These different processes provide some hints to understand the procedures in which insight can be gained from InfoVis. We hope that our findings help researchers and practitioners evaluate InfoVis systems and technologies in a more insight-oriented way.