Nidhi Kakulawaram and John Zamfirescu-Pereira

EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley

Technical Report No. UCB/EECS-2021-145

May 21, 2021

http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2021/EECS-2021-145.pdf

Spreadsheets are one of the most common data management and analysis tools used today. In recent years, there has been focus on the extensiveness of spreadsheet errors with 90-95% of spreadsheets containing significant errors [9] [2]. We present Spreadsheet Bubbles, a novel user interface that extends the research on error prevention by proposing a mechanism that reduces their incidence. Through uncovering hidden data and enabling formula confirmation, Spreadsheet Bubbles’ goals are to improve user understanding during the spreadsheet creation and manipulation process, and to ultimately reduce errors while increasing efficiency. Our tool succinctly presents data that is often hidden to enable the user to more easily confirm the correctness of their logic and formulae. In addition to making hidden data visible, we also make the hidden state of intermediary results visible. Nested formulae become increasingly difficult to understand and to debug because the user often struggles to isolate which function in the larger formulae is causing the incorrect results. Through Spreadsheet Bubbles’ display of intermediary results, the user is able to visualize and validate formula fragments. The essence of our augmented user interface is making visually distal but logically relevant data proximate to reduce cognitive burden on the user.

Advisors: Björn Hartmann

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BibTeX citation:

@mastersthesis{Kakulawaram:EECS-2021-145,
    Author= {Kakulawaram, Nidhi and Zamfirescu-Pereira, John},
    Editor= {Hartmann, Björn and Parameswaran, Aditya},
    Title= {Spreadsheet Bubbles: Showing Contextually Relevant Data During Formula Editing},
    School= {EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley},
    Year= {2021},
    Month= {May},
    Url= {http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2021/EECS-2021-145.html},
    Number= {UCB/EECS-2021-145},
    Abstract= {Spreadsheets are one of the most common data management and analysis tools used today. In recent years, there has been focus on the extensiveness of spreadsheet errors with 90-95% of spreadsheets containing significant errors [9] [2]. We present Spreadsheet Bubbles, a novel user interface that extends the research on error prevention by proposing a mechanism that reduces their incidence. Through uncovering hidden data and enabling formula confirmation, Spreadsheet Bubbles’ goals are to improve user understanding during the spreadsheet creation and manipulation process, and to ultimately reduce errors while increasing efficiency. Our tool succinctly presents data that is often hidden to enable the user to more easily confirm the correctness of their logic and formulae. In addition to making hidden data visible, we also make the hidden state of intermediary results visible. Nested formulae become increasingly difficult to understand and to debug because the user often struggles to isolate which function in the larger formulae is causing the incorrect results. Through Spreadsheet Bubbles’ display of intermediary results, the user is able to visualize and validate formula fragments. The essence of our augmented user interface is making visually distal but logically relevant data proximate to reduce cognitive burden on the user.},
}

EndNote citation:

%0 Thesis
%A Kakulawaram, Nidhi 
%A Zamfirescu-Pereira, John 
%E Hartmann, Björn 
%E Parameswaran, Aditya 
%T Spreadsheet Bubbles: Showing Contextually Relevant Data During Formula Editing
%I EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley
%D 2021
%8 May 21
%@ UCB/EECS-2021-145
%U http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2021/EECS-2021-145.html
%F Kakulawaram:EECS-2021-145