JourneyBot: Designing a Chatbot-driven Interactive Visualization Tool for Design Research

Soojin Hwang, Dongwhan Kim

Recent trends underscore the growing adoption of chatbots in user research due to their ability to connect with multiple users simultaneously, bypassing physical and time constraints. In this research, we introduce JourneyBot, a novel chatbot-driven interactive visualization tool that captures users’ experiences from medical clinic visits and displays their journey on a flexible and interactive platform. Particularly beneficial during periods of social distancing, JourneyBot also tackles broader challenges in user experience research, such as overcoming geographical barriers and ensuring inclusivity for participants confined to their homes. Our approach was two-fold: Initially, we crafted a rule-based chatbot to gather genuine feedback from users across various stages of their medical visits, subsequently portraying this on individual treatment journey maps. We then merged these individual maps to create a comprehensive and holistic interactive visualization, assisting user experience designers in promptly pinpointing user challenges and emotional shifts during their clinic experiences. Our findings highlight JourneyBot’s ability to improve research techniques and its considerable potential for the UX community.