Knowlege visualization in academic reporting : a human-computer-interaction perspective

Abstract

Researchers often invest more time, interest, and effort in the production of new knowledge than in the dissemination of their research results. This may constitute a major barrier to the diffusion of research results, to adding to the body of existing knowledge and potentially minimises the impact of the researcher’s work on other research, policy-makers and practitioners. Given the increased pressure on academics to publish and the competition for research funding it is important to consider what researchers can do beyond traditional knowledge generation and dissemination to facilitate the wider reception, more effective knowledge transfer and consequent utilization of generated knowledge. One approach to improving knowledge transfer and adoption is the use of knowledge visualisation techniques. This study investigates the problem of knowledge visualisation in academic reporting. To contextualise the problem we start by identifying the categories of under-visualisation, over-visualisation and incorrect visualisation as challenges and then focus on developing guidelines for more effective visualisation in academic reporting. Theoretically this paper departs from traditional information visualisations by reflecting on the similarities and differences between information visualisations as a discipline of Human-Computer Interaction in Computer Science while knowledge visualisation is primarily researched in the field of Education and Knowledge Management. Knowledge visualisation is a valuable tool in making research knowledge accessible but for various reasons knowledge visualisation has not been widely applied in academic writing. This paper provides an overview of knowledge visualisation guidelines and contrasts that with information visualization guidelines to synthesize a set of guidelines for knowledge visualisation in academic reporting. This research should be of interest to researchers, supervisors, research managers.