ThemeRiver*: In Search of Trends, Patterns, and Relationships

Abstract

ThemeRiverTM is a prototype system that visualizes thematic variations over time across a collection of documents. The “river” flows through time, changing width to depict changes in the thematic strength of documents temporally collocated. Themes or topics are represented as colored “currents” flowing within the river that narrow or widen to indicate decreases or increases in the strength of a topic in associated documents at a specific point in time. The river is shown within the context of a timeline and a corresponding textual presentation of external events.