Building Human-Centered Visual Analytics Tools

Speaker: Dr. Arpit Narechania
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Title: Building Human-Centered Visual Analytics Tools

Date: Monday, 22 September 2025

Time: 4:00pm - 5:00pm

Venue: Lecture Theater F (Leung Yat Sing Lecture Theater), near lift 25/26, HKUST

Abstract:

Given the scale and complexity of today's datasets, people face a critical challenge during visual data analysis: an overwhelming number of decisions. These decisions—about what, where, when, and how to visualize data—directly influence the quality of the analysis process and outcomes. For example, a user must decide which attributes to visualize, whether to apply filters, or which chart type best represents the data. While AI-powered tools are increasingly available to assist with these decisions, current support often lacks the human-centric adaptability and transparency that users need, leading to biased interpretations, missed insights, and flawed conclusions. In this talk, I will showcase guidance-enriched visual analytics tools where AI-powered systems and human users collaboratively guide each other during analysis. Specifically, I will demonstrate how guidance can (1) help data analysts increase awareness of biased analytic behaviors during visual data analysis, (2) support mapmakers in creating trustworthy maps, and (3) help people author data visualizations using natural language.

Biography:

Arpit Narechania is an Assistant Professor in the CSE Department at HKUST. He received his PhD in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, and BS in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi, India. Prior to academia, Arpit was a founding engineer at multiple startups in the FinTech and EdTech sectors and also contributed to digital governance initiatives for the Government of India. As an academic now, Arpit's main research interests are in visual analytics, human-computer interaction (HCI), and artificial intelligence (AI), with particular focus on 'catalyzing' human-AI collaboration, as part of which he builds interactive tools and fosters conducive environments that actively enhance the way humans and AI work together. He has collaborated with industry leaders such as Adobe, Microsoft, and Ford, co-authoring multiple patents, publications, product integrations, and open-source software. For details, checkout https://narechania.com.