Model Planes and Totem Poles:
Methods for Visualizing User Models
PeerGlass is an architecture for visualizing user models. The design of
PeerGlass is centered on the idea that people will not trust a
personalized system unless they understand how the filtering is done. To
this end, PeerGlass provides support for users to explore their own user
models.
The PeerGlass concept and design can be applied to any personalized
information system. The work described here is an application of
PeerGlass to an electronic, personalized newspaper that provides users
with access to their user models. The intent of PeerGlass is to help
users understand their user model so that trust between the users and
the system grows.
Below: The article view of the newspaper, and then the view showing the model
PeerGlass incorporates two methods for visualizing user models. The
first involves graphical widgets called totem poles to help answer the
question, "Why did the system choose this article for me?" The second
mechanism is a set of model planes to explain, "What does the user
modelling system think it knows about me?" The totem poles are
customized for each article while the model planes are particular to
each section of the newspaper.
Seeing Why an Article was Selected: Totem Poles
Totem poles show the user the strongest matches between the features of
an article and the preferences in their user model. The goal is to
explain why a particular article made it into the personalized
newspaper. A totem pole is a multi-sided 3D widget that can be freely
rotated or controlled through prescribed camera angles.
MPEG Video Clip (1 MB; 20 sec in real time).
The features of
an article are grouped into four categories. The four sides of the totem
pole correspond to the four categories:
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Source: Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal...
Topic: Basketball, Bosnia, Clinton...
Type: Interview, Expose, Press Release...
Nature: Liberal, Humorous, Depressing...
By looking at the totem pole for an article, the user should be able to
quickly determine why the article was selected by the user modelling
system. Totem poles also have the [non-intentional] function of helping
the user browse through articles.
Exploring the User Model: Model Planes
Each model plane is a different slice of the user's model for a section
of the newspaper. The model planes are organized along the same axis to
form a Rolodex-like mechanism. The user spins the Rolodex to see the
planes.
MPEG Video Clip (1 MB; 25 sec in real time).
The model planes that are currently implemented in PeerGlass include:
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Explicit Interests: items that the user tells the system to include
Explicit Expert Sources: a list of publications that the user explicitly
trusts
Implicit Interests: the interests that the user modelling system has
inferred by watching the user
Implicit Communities: the observed set of communities that the user
modelling system has inferred to be close to the user's interests
Users who want to know the contents of their user model can explore the
model planes to find this information and learn about how the filtering
is done. The architecture of the system supports the addition of more
planes to represent other angles of user modelling.
Evaluation
Since the point of PeerGlass is to help people understand their user
models, it is necessary to investigate which parts of PeerGlass make
sense to users and those aspects that need revision. Twelve graduate
students from the MIT Media Lab reviewed PeerGlass and provided their
suggestions on future improvements. While reviewing the system in pairs,
the students rated how effective they thought the totem poles and model
planes were at meeting their goals. These dozen evaluators later
participated in focus group meetings to discuss the value of potential
additions to PeerGlass and to propose improved designs for the model
planes. Five pairs of undergraduates subsequently evaluated the system
and reviewed the suggestions from the focus group meetings.
Below: Six of the new designs proposed by the focus groups and reviewed by undergraduates
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