The challenge of information visualization evaluation

As the field of information visualization matures, the tools and ideas described in our research publications are reaching users. The reports of usability studies and controlled experiments are helpful to understand the potential and limitations of our tools, but we need to consider other evaluation approaches that take into account the long exploratory nature of users tasks, the value of potential discoveries or the benefits of overall awareness. We need better metrics and benchmark repositories to compare tools, and we should also seek reports of successful adoption and demonstrated utility.