Side-By-Side Display and Control of Multiple Scenarios: Subjunctive Interfaces for Exploring Multi-Attribute Data

Information exploration often involves specifying alternative values for some set of parameters, and comparing the corresponding results. Some interfaces allow only one scenario, i.e., one set of parameter values, to be handled at a time. To compare results, the user must therefore switch repeatedly among the scenarios of interest and must remember details of the results seen so far. A subjunctive-interface approach may reduce this burden on the user. Subjunctive interfaces let users establish, view and adjust multiple scenarios in parallel, so that results can be compared side by side. As an illustration, we describe two subjunctive interfaces for comparing queries over a multi-attribute dataset. In both designs the query results are shown side by side, but in one case the input parameters’ available values are laid out in menus, marked to show which queries use each value; in the other case the parameters are controlled by sliders, with the parameters’ values in the different queries displayed side by side like the results. Both designs appear to offer advantages over other exploration interfaces, because they reduce the number of interface actions required and the information that users must re-