Passive Exploration

An interaction paradigm in non-visual interfaces where a complete representation of information is presented to the user all at once, rather than being discovered through user-directed navigation. In the context of accessible graphics and data visualisation, passive exploration systems might read out an entire graph description or play a complete sonification of a dataset without user input. While passive approaches can provide a quick overview, they can also overwhelm users with information and do not preserve the spatial awareness that comes from physically navigating through a representation. Passive exploration is often contrasted with active exploration, where users control their own path through the information.