Interactive Exploration of Visualization
Posted: 25 Nov 2012 08:44
Hello!
I want to use Gephi to create an interactive experience that lets the user explore the different nodes in a network. They would start with a blank page and a search bar (or simply a page with a single node on it). When they click the node, the nodes in the network that are connected to that node appear. When they click those nodes, their connections appear. This repeats so the user can "build" the network themselves, kind of like a "choose your own adventure" book. Ideally I would like to do this with a large database hosted online, but I don't know whether a Sigma.js file would be able to continually mine that data from online (would I have to export all of the database through Gephi in order to accomplish this, or can there be a real-time data retrieval?) I also do not want to code each interaction by hand; I hope that there is a way to incorporate a simple "rule" that allows each node to appear (for example, rather than coding "when Node1 is pressed, Nodes 2-5 appear", I would much rather have something like "when any node is pressed, all of the nodes they share edges with appear". This would provide much more flexibility in the form that the end result could take by making it less scripted).
If this is an impossible feat, what would be the easiest way of creating a demonstration of this functionality using Sigma.js and Gephi (with scripted interactions and an "example" data set rather than mining the data real-time from a server hosted online)? Is Sigma the best tool for this? I chose it simply because of my familiarity with Javascript, but I can adapt to whatever program/format is the best option. I don't mind if this can't be hosted online; if this entire interaction must occur on Gephi itself, that's perfectly OK as I just need to demonstrate its functionality.
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your feedback!
I want to use Gephi to create an interactive experience that lets the user explore the different nodes in a network. They would start with a blank page and a search bar (or simply a page with a single node on it). When they click the node, the nodes in the network that are connected to that node appear. When they click those nodes, their connections appear. This repeats so the user can "build" the network themselves, kind of like a "choose your own adventure" book. Ideally I would like to do this with a large database hosted online, but I don't know whether a Sigma.js file would be able to continually mine that data from online (would I have to export all of the database through Gephi in order to accomplish this, or can there be a real-time data retrieval?) I also do not want to code each interaction by hand; I hope that there is a way to incorporate a simple "rule" that allows each node to appear (for example, rather than coding "when Node1 is pressed, Nodes 2-5 appear", I would much rather have something like "when any node is pressed, all of the nodes they share edges with appear". This would provide much more flexibility in the form that the end result could take by making it less scripted).
If this is an impossible feat, what would be the easiest way of creating a demonstration of this functionality using Sigma.js and Gephi (with scripted interactions and an "example" data set rather than mining the data real-time from a server hosted online)? Is Sigma the best tool for this? I chose it simply because of my familiarity with Javascript, but I can adapt to whatever program/format is the best option. I don't mind if this can't be hosted online; if this entire interaction must occur on Gephi itself, that's perfectly OK as I just need to demonstrate its functionality.
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your feedback!