Incorporation of Human Knowledge into Data Embeddings to Improve Pattern Significance and Interpretability

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to incorporate human knowledge into data embeddings by using explicit labels and classification loss, enhancing the significance and interpretability of visualized data patterns.

Contribution

It proposes a novel embedding approach that externalizes human knowledge and integrates classification loss to produce more meaningful and interpretable data visualizations.

Findings

Improved pattern significance and interpretability in embeddings.

Effective integration of human knowledge into the embedding process.

Positive user study and quantitative results demonstrate approach's usability.

Abstract

Embedding is a common technique for analyzing multi-dimensional data. However, the embedding projection cannot always form significant and interpretable visual structures that foreshadow underlying data patterns. We propose an approach that incorporates human knowledge into data embeddings to improve pattern significance and interpretability. The core idea is (1) externalizing tacit human knowledge as explicit sample labels and (2) adding a classification loss in the embedding network to encode samples' classes. The approach pulls samples of the same class with similar data features closer in the projection, leading to more compact (significant) and class-consistent (interpretable) visual structures. We give an embedding network with a customized classification loss to implement the idea and integrate the network into a visualization system to form a workflow that supports flexible class creation and pattern exploration. Patterns found on open datasets in case studies, subjects' performance in a user study, and quantitative experiment results illustrate the general usability and effectiveness of the approach.