Prototyping an Interactive Visualization of Dietary Supplement Knowledge Graph

Abstract

Dietary supplements (DS) are widely consumed. However, most people have limited knowledge about the safety and efficacy of DS. Even though there exists the well-curated integrated DIetary Supplement Knowledge base (iDISK) with a formal knowledge representation, it lacks a user-friendly interface for general consumers to query and retrieve DS information relevant to their needs. Following user-centered design principles, we prototyped a web application, ALOHA (i.e., dietAry suppLement knOwledge grapH visuAlization), with interactive graph-based visualization to facilitate consumers' browsing of iDISK. We conducted a usability inspection and design session with a focus group and evaluated the usability of the prototype with a modified System Usability Scale (SUS). The SUS result was marginal (63.75 ± 7.2 with 1 outlier removed). Nevertheless, all participants agreed that such an application is urgently needed to address the gaps in how DS information (and health information in general) are currently organized and consumed online. These feedbacks are valuable to inform the next iteration of ALOHA.