ABSTRACT
We present Themail, a visualization that portrays relationships
using the interaction histories preserved in email archives.
Using the content of exchanged messages, it shows the words
that characterize one’s correspondence with an individual and
how they change over the period of the relationship.
This paper describes the interface and content-parsing
algorithms in Themail. It also presents the results from a user
study where two main interaction modes with the visualization
emerged: exploration of “big picture” trends and themes in
email (haystack mode) and more detail-oriented exploration
We present Themail, a visualization that portrays relationships
using the interaction histories preserved in email archives.
Using the content of exchanged messages, it shows the words
that characterize one’s correspondence with an individual and
how they change over the period of the relationship.
This paper describes the interface and content-parsing
algorithms in Themail. It also presents the results from a user
study where two main interaction modes with the visualization
emerged: exploration of “big picture” trends and themes in
email (haystack mode) and more detail-oriented exploration