Session Viewer: Visual Exploratory Analysis of Web Session Logs
Venue
Symposium on Visual Analytics Science and Technology (VAST), IEEE (2007), pp. 147-154
Publication Year
2007
Authors
Heidi Lam, Daniel M. Russell, Diane Tang, Tamara Munzner
BibTeX
Abstract
Large-scale session log analysis typically includes statistical methods and
detailed log examinations. While both methods have merits, statistical methods can
miss previously unknown subpopulations in the data and detailed analyses may have
selection biases. We therefore built Session Viewer, a visualization tool to
facilitate and bridge between statistical and detailed analyses. Taking a
multiple-coordinated view approach, Session Viewer shows multiple session
populations at the Aggregate, Multiple, and Detail data levels to support different
analysis styles. To bridge between the statistical and the detailed analysis
levels, Session Viewer provides fluid traversal between data levels and
side-by-side comparison at all data levels. We describe an analysis of a
large-scale web usage study to demonstrate the use of Session Viewer, where we
quantified the importance of grouping sessions based on task type.
