arXiv subjects

Shixiong Cao

Publications and source records attributed to Shixiong Cao.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Emotion-Aware Design: Modulating Valence, Arousal, and Dominance in Communication via Design

In an era of emotionally saturated digital media and information overload, effective communication demands more than clarity and accuracy-it requires emotional awareness. This review introduces the paradigm of emotion-aware design, a framework grounded in the valence-arousal-dominance (VAD) model of affect, which systematically examines how emotional modulation shapes comprehension, memory, and behavior. Drawing on insights from psychology, neuroscience, communication, and design, we show that emotional responses significantly influence how information is perceived, retained, and shared. We further propose a multimodal design space-encompassing text, visuals, audio, and interaction-that enables strategic regulation of emotional dimensions to enhance communication efficacy. By linking emotional dynamics to cognitive outcomes and practical design strategies, this review offers both a conceptual foundation and an applied roadmap for designing emotionally resonant communication across domains such as education, health, media, and public discourse.

cs.SI↗

arXiv2025

DataScout: Automatic Data Fact Retrieval for Statement Augmentation with an LLM-Based Agent

A data story typically integrates data facts from multiple perspectives and stances to construct a comprehensive and objective narrative. However, retrieving these facts demands time for data search and challenges the creator's analytical skills. In this work, we introduce DataScout, an interactive system that automatically performs reasoning and stance-based data facts retrieval to augment the user's statement. Particularly, DataScout leverages an LLM-based agent to construct a retrieval tree, enabling collaborative control of its expansion between users and the agent. The interface visualizes the retrieval tree as a mind map that eases users to intuitively steer the retrieval direction and effectively engage in reasoning and analysis. We evaluate the proposed system through case studies and in-depth expert interviews. Our evaluation demonstrates that DataScout can effectively retrieve multifaceted data facts from different stances, helping users verify their statements and enhance the credibility of their stories.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2025

Leveraging Foundation Models for Crafting Narrative Visualization: A Survey

Narrative visualization transforms data into engaging stories, making complex information accessible to a broad audience. Foundation models, with their advanced capabilities such as natural language processing, content generation, and multimodal integration, hold substantial potential for enriching narrative visualization. Recently, a collection of techniques have been introduced for crafting narrative visualizations based on foundation models from different aspects. We build our survey upon 66 papers to study how foundation models can progressively engage in this process and then propose a reference model categorizing the reviewed literature into four essential phases: Analysis, Narration, Visualization, and Interaction. Furthermore, we identify eight specific tasks (e.g. Insight Extraction and Authoring) where foundation models are applied across these stages to facilitate the creation of visual narratives. Detailed descriptions, related literature, and reflections are presented for each task. To make it a more impactful and informative experience for diverse readers, we discuss key research problems and provide the strengths and weaknesses in each task to guide people in identifying and seizing opportunities while navigating challenges in this field.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2023

How Does Automation Shape the Process of Narrative Visualization: A Survey of Tools

In recent years, narrative visualization has gained much attention. Researchers have proposed different design spaces for various narrative visualization genres and scenarios to facilitate the creation process. As users' needs grow and automation technologies advance, increasingly more tools have been designed and developed. In this study, we summarized six genres of narrative visualization (annotated charts, infographics, timelines & storylines, data comics, scrollytelling & slideshow, and data videos) based on previous research and four types of tools (design spaces, authoring tools, ML/AI-supported tools and ML/AI-generator tools) based on the intelligence and automation level of the tools. We surveyed 105 papers and tools to study how automation can progressively engage in visualization design and narrative processes to help users easily create narrative visualizations. This research aims to provide an overview of current research and development in the automation involvement of narrative visualization tools. We discuss key research problems in each category and suggest new opportunities to encourage further research in the related domain.

cs.HC↗