MuzLink: Connected beeswarm timelines for visual analysis of musical adaptations and artist relationships

The rise of open data in the cultural domain is democratizing access to complex datasets usually presented as large multivariate and multilayered graphs. However, the exploration of such datasets is challenging for laypersons. The objective of this work is to develop and evaluate a new method for exploring and understanding a specific type of multilayered graph that combines a large bipartite graph with a set of tree structures. This paper proposes MuzLink, an interactive visualization tool that allows the user to navigate, search, locate, and compare collaborative and influential relationships between musical artists through the exploration of musical adaptations. The proposed tool is based on a set of connected timelines visualizing how an artist’s collaborations, inspirations, and influences evolved over time. This design study is conducted in close collaboration with BAnQ, the national library and archives agency of the Quebec government. A controlled user study, done with a group of BAnQ users, and two case studies, show how the proposed approach is capable of performing a considerable set of analytical and exploratory tasks.