This paper presents a comparative study on personal visualizations of bibliographic data. We consider three designs for egocentric visualization: node-link diagrams, adjacency matrices, and botanical trees to depict one’s academic career in terms of his/her publication records. Case studies are conducted to compare the effectiveness of resulting visualizations for conveying particular aspect of a researcher's bibliographic records. Based on our ...

Node-Link diagrams make it possible to take a quick glance at how nodes (or actors) in a network are connected by edges (or ties). A conventional network diagram of a “contact tree” maps out a root and branches that represent the structure of nodes and edges, often without further specifying leaves or fruits that would have grown from small branches. ...

This paper presents a preliminary study on egocentric visualization of a bibliographic database. The visualization design is based on a botanic tree metaphor, resulting in a visually interesting and information rich depiction of one's research career in terms of publication records. The case studies reveal both the strengths and limitations of the current design.