Font attributes enrich knowledge maps and information retrieval

Abstract

Typography is overlooked in knowledge maps (KM) and information retrieval (IR), and some deficiencies in these systems can potentially be improved by encoding information into font attributes. A review of font use across domains is used to itemize font attributes and information visualization theory is used to characterize each attribute. Tasks associated with KM and IR, such as skimming, opinion analysis, character analysis, topic modelling and sentiment analysis can be aided through the use of novel representations using font attributes such as skim formatting, proportional encoding, textual stem and leaf plots and multi-attribute labels.