Main area: 1 - Graph area; 2 - Top panel; 3 - Right panel. 

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Context 1

... next section presents the visualization and interaction framework which enables a visual representation of the graphs in Table 1, and a set of operations that enable the user to change from one graph to another. The representation of the graph is based on visual elements, described below, which are identified by labels. Each label may be a name, an image, or both. It also uses the notion of super elements, which are collections of single elements, to deal with visual cluttering. The platform enables visualizations using any combination between two of the three productive network concepts (users, items and keywords) as a relationship. An example of a visualization is items, e.g. photos (as nodes), connected through common keywords (as edges). The platform’s web -interface has three main areas, presented in Figure 1. The central area displays the interactive graph. On the top panel, the user can choose the type of visualization he wants to use and check which is the current one. Finally, the right panel provides access to all the information relative to the currently selected graph element. All areas are interconnected and the interaction in one of them could trigger a change in another (e.g. the selection of a graph element triggers a change of information on the right panel). The graph area enables visualization and interaction with information and connection elements (see Figure 2), providing browsing and searching tools on the collaborative potential information. The visualization elements can be divided into two groups:  Information elements to be analyzed, either represented by a single node in the graph or by a super node (group of single nodes);  Connecting elements, represented by a single edge, or a super edge (group of edges). Super elements represent a collection of nodes or edges, respectively. Combinations of these four elements (simple and super nodes, and simples and super edges) together form a visualization graph. Each element enables two different types of inter-dependent operations, i.e., the second type can only be applied after the first. Table 2 presents a description of every operation available to each type of element. Table 2, Figure 2 shows sample node representations using the Flickr case study (see section ...