eprintid: 10180667
rev_number: 12
eprint_status: archive
userid: 699
dir: disk0/10/18/06/67
datestamp: 2023-11-07 14:31:16
lastmod: 2023-11-07 14:31:16
status_changed: 2023-11-07 14:31:16
type: proceedings_section
metadata_visibility: show
sword_depositor: 699
creators_name: Chalhoub, G
creators_name: Sarkar, A
title: "It's Freedom to Put Things Where My Mind Wants": Understanding and Improving the User Experience of Structuring Data in Spreadsheets
ispublished: pub
divisions: UCL
divisions: B04
divisions: C05
divisions: F48
keywords: spreadsheets, user experience, structure, data
note: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
abstract: Despite efforts to augment or replace the 2-dimensional spreadsheet grid with formal data structures such as arrays and tables to ease formula authoring and reduce errors, the flexible grid remains overwhelmingly successful. Why? We interviewed a diverse sample of 21 spreadsheet users about their use of structure in spreadsheets. It emerges that data structuring is subject to a complex network of incentives and constraints, including factors extrinsic to spreadsheets such as the user's expertise, auxiliary tools, and collaborator needs. Moreover, we find that table columns are an important abstraction, and that operations such as conditional formatting, data validation, and formula authoring can be implemented on table columns, rather than cell ranges. To probe this, we designed 4 click-through prototypes for a follow-up study with 20 participants. We found that although column operations improved the value proposition of structured tables, they are unlikely to supplant the advantages of the flexible grid.
date: 2022-04
date_type: published
publisher: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
official_url: https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3501833
oa_status: green
full_text_type: other
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 2093404
doi: 10.1145/3491102.3501833
isbn_13: 9781450391573
lyricists_name: Chalhoub, George
lyricists_id: GCHAL04
actors_name: Chalhoub, George
actors_id: GCHAL04
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
series: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)
publication: CHI '22: Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
volume: 2022
place_of_pub: New York, NY, USA
pages: 24
event_title: 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '22)
event_location: New Orleans, LA
book_title: CHI '22: Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
editors_name: Barbosa, S
editors_name: Lampe, C
editors_name: Appert, C
editors_name: Shamma, DA
editors_name: Drucker, S
editors_name: Williamson, J
editors_name: Yatani, K
citation:        Chalhoub, G;    Sarkar, A;      (2022)    "It's Freedom to Put Things Where My Mind Wants": Understanding and Improving the User Experience of Structuring Data in Spreadsheets.                     In: Barbosa, S and Lampe, C and Appert, C and Shamma, DA and Drucker, S and Williamson, J and Yatani, K, (eds.) CHI '22: Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.    Association for Computing Machinery (ACM): New York, NY, USA.       Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10180667/1/chalhoub_2022_data_structuring.pdf