Aaron Marcus: A Look At The Future Of Information Visualization
The truth is not what you know, but what you know about your knowledge.
Information Visualization is a special design category.
user interface. Tables, forms, graphs, maps and charts should make the best use of metaphors, mental images, navigation, interaction and visibility to be practical, useful and attractive, thus following the fundamental fundamentals of positive user experience.
experience. The emergence of new technologies for searching and collecting information,
recently offered by Google, Yahoo and other major online
companies may be evidence of serious progress. To a certain degree
This is true, however, many advanced visualization techniques (and sound)
used for years, and in some cases for decades in narrow financial, medical, military and scientific circles, without having received wide recognition and application.
There are plenty of resources about visualizing information. For example,
Woolman's “Digital Information Graphics” - richly illustrated catalog
innovation, released around 2002. Some technologies, such as the Inselberg paradigm of parallel coordinates, which he first showed me at a conference in 1981, have been known for decades. Professor
Marty Hearst of the University of California at Berkeley, in his course on information visualization, introduces a number of techniques similar to those taught throughout the world. The latest technology conferences also include
events organized since 1990 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
electronics (IEEE) and other organizations, for example, the “Diagrams
2006 ”. To a certain extent, the visualization of information is strong,
reliable component of the industry. However, much more needs to be done.
PROGRESS
')
Even today, most users don't have any tools for building
diagrams or data representations as convenient as
text editors or spreadsheets. This is sad since so many people
most productively express their thoughts in non-verbal ways, in connection with which
clarification processes and descriptions can best be implemented with
using verbal-visual or even verbal-audial, especially dynamic
means. Of course, many users prefer this diagram
product, like Visio, or one of its components, such as SmartDraw.
However, not all users are familiar with them, besides these applications
incompatible with some platforms.
Of course, intelligent general-purpose products are becoming more
advanced and clear, easy to read and use. James
Fellows describes some of them in a recent article in the New York Times.
He cites as an example Devonthink Professional, an information retrieval
a system that offers simple data entry into the database of electronic messages,
web pages, text and numeric files, images, pdf files and everything that
can be "copied by pressing a key, or moved with a mouse for storage."
It is possible to combine or classify data in the process of their
receipts, or later. Methods of collecting information through a quick search
similar to Apple Macintosh Spotlight built-in tool, or
Google search bars. However, a special option here is the "show
also ", pressing which displays files or text semantically related to
search criteria with clearer criteria than most online
search engines. Another mentioned for its feature, the product has become
Tinderbox, displaying visual links between facts or ideas entered
the user in the form of quotes, themes, phrases, texts, images, diagrams and other
forms. Thus, it is possible to display extensive data in the form of text,
diagrams, sequence charts or link diagram.
Products similar to those listed above, such as a hyperbolic browser from
InXight, the result of previous Xerox PARC developments, and
also an experimental Data Mountain metaphor technology created by
Microsoft developers, mentioned by George Robertson and others, are all
use spatial syntax to display concepts and
relationship. Many of these techniques are based on a visual image.
without the use of sound. Individual developers, like Kaper and others,
focused solely on voicing data, and only a few
use both presentation technologies. Alice Preston and Susan Fowler
investigated sound phenomena at the UPA workshop in 2004 and based on the results
presented a list of great examples. And although a lot of innovative
approaches to visualization / sound information, none of them received
such global and ubiquitous application that has been achieved to
example, creating spreadsheets in the 80s.
WHAT'S EXPECTING US?
What will allow to bring these intimate approaches to the mainstream? How reliable
and a tool compatible with any system will be on everyone’s computer or
communication device in ten years? Regardless
what form it will take, it will have to solve a number of problems.
When developing new features for popular products, it is always taken in
attention a certain historical precedent. So word processing, which is already
no longer associated with the traditional printing press, to a large extent
was based on the metaphor of existing mechanical or electromechanical
devices of the previous era. The same can be said about electronic
tables developed on the basis of ledgers that have been used for centuries
accountants. Do not forget that after the invention of mobile
letters and typography in his understanding today, Guttenberg and
colleagues were confident that they only improved the process
the creation of manuscripts, in connection with which the essence of their invention, in the scale of the current
his scores remained undisclosed for decades. What of used in our
days could be the basis for a new method of visualization / sound
information? Of course, Venn diagrams, flowcharts and other basic
diagram technologies could be a good start.
Another challenge for the software product should be the ease of entry
data, as well as local and global (batch) editing. Also
A common problem is to encourage users to
performing searches using boolean operators without detailed
understanding boolean logic. How you can make logic with visual aids
requests more visual?
In addition, an important feature of the product is its processing ability.
large amount of information. As a rule of thumb was perceived
I have a fact, set forth a few decades ago by a professor
Andries Van Dame of Brown University in the context of thinking about the future
hypertext: after meaningful (no matter how much) boolean search,
the user may still be forced to view and compare up to 500
results. How can you evaluate the 500 displayed realities in one block, where
each of them has a family (plus or minus two) attributes, each of which
can be in seven (plus or minus two) states? Also worth considering is
the fact that we only have a few seconds to evaluate the data block,
Decision making and transition to the next action. For me it is
fundamental problem of reproduction of information.
In conclusion, it is necessary to mention the problem of compatibility of technology
with a variety of platforms, whether desktop or portable
environment. Today it is identical to the difference between large and small
screens - both should take full advantage
advanced approach. Compatibility with Web 2.0 also does not hurt.
Going further, do not forget Herman Hesse’s fantastic novel “The
Glass Bead Game (Magister Ludi) ”, written in 1943. In it the author
introduced the society of the future, in which all knowledge is turned into music. People,
able to adequately perceive and play music, had the status of the masters of society,
controlling him (and his) fate. I believe that with the development
advanced techniques of visualization and reproduction of information, we will be able
manage your and other people's lives more powerfully and effectively. Will hope,
that this power will be the possession of many, not of the elect.
By the way, my own fantasy about the future of information visualization
born in my imagination more than 20 years ago: I imagined
technology of the future, which was nothing more than a universal mosaic
pixels encoded to display spatial, color, dynamic and
even sound characteristics. As a result, provided an abstract
representation of a set of concepts on a universal visualization screen.
Of course, it is necessary to know and remember the semantics in order to be able to
"Read" the image. With proper design and training, this solution could
Become a highly efficient, simple, and efficient mechanism that is compatible with most hardware platforms.
Will this or other technologies be universal and ubiquitous?
application, time will tell. However, one thing remains clear - the products of the future.
should use the method of mapping structures and processes, which is still
not available to current software applications.
LINKS
1. Devonthink. http://devon-technologies.com
2. Diagrams Conference, 2006. http://diagrams-conference.org/cfp
3. Del.icio.us (bookmarks site] visualization sites: http://www.solutionwatch.com/252/visualizing-delicious-roundup/
(General roundup), http://www.ivy.fr/revealicious/index.html ,
http://www.browsedelicious.de/ , http://kevan.org/cxtispicious
4. Fellows, James (December 4, 2005). "Mac Programs That Come with Thinking
Caps On. »New York Times, p.3-3.
5. Few, Stefan (2004). Show Me the Numbers. Oakland, California:
Analytics Press.
6. Few, Stefan (2006). Information dashboard
Design. Sebastopol, California: O'Reilly.
7. Flickr visualization sites: http://www.nuthinking.com/did/tagged_colors_03/ ,
http://krazydad.com/colrpickr/ , http://marumushi.com
8. Hurst, Marty (2005). Information Visualization
University of California at Berkeley Course Description, http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/courses/is247/f05
9. Hesse, Merman (2002). The glass bead game
(Magister Ludi). New York St.
Martin's Press.
10. Symposium on Visualization of Information IEEE 2005. http://www.infovis.org/infovis/2005
11. Information Complexity - a site dedicated to the visualization of complex systems and
networks: http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc
12. The magazine “Information Visualization” http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ivs/index.html
13. Inselberg, Alfred. Parallel
Coordinates Explained http://catt.bus.okstate.edu/jones98/parallel.html
14. InXight. http://www.inxight.com
15. Kaper, H. C, C Tipay, and E. Vibel (1999). “Data Sonification and Sound
Visualization, "Computing in Science and Engineering, Vol. I, No. 4 (July / August '99),
pp. 48-58
16. Preston, Alice, and Susan Fowler (2004). Workshop on Sound in. User Interfaces, UPA 2004. Web review URL: http://www.fast-consulting.com/upa9620sounds%20and%20graphics/UPA2004
AWResults.htm
17. Robertson, George, Mary Chervinsky, Kevin Larson, Daniel S. Robbins,
David Thiel, and Maarlen van Danzlich (1998). "Data Mountain: Using Spatial Memory for Document
Management »Proc. UIST 1998 San
Francisco, p. 153. http://www.microsoft.com/usability/UEPostings/pl53-robertson.pdf
18. SmartDraw. Comparing SmartDraw and Visio. http://www.smartdraw.com/specials/visio-compare.asp?id=24520
19. Tinderbox. http://www.eastgate.com
20. Visio. Microsoft Corporation, http://office.microsoft.com
21. Visual blog, example: http://infosthetics.com/
22. Woolman, Matt (2002). Digital information
Graphics. New York:
Watson-guptill
23. Web2 0: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
Information Visualization is a special design category.
user interface. Tables, forms, graphs, maps and charts should make the best use of metaphors, mental images, navigation, interaction and visibility to be practical, useful and attractive, thus following the fundamental fundamentals of positive user experience.
experience. The emergence of new technologies for searching and collecting information,
recently offered by Google, Yahoo and other major online
companies may be evidence of serious progress. To a certain degree
This is true, however, many advanced visualization techniques (and sound)
used for years, and in some cases for decades in narrow financial, medical, military and scientific circles, without having received wide recognition and application.
There are plenty of resources about visualizing information. For example,
Woolman's “Digital Information Graphics” - richly illustrated catalog
innovation, released around 2002. Some technologies, such as the Inselberg paradigm of parallel coordinates, which he first showed me at a conference in 1981, have been known for decades. Professor
Marty Hearst of the University of California at Berkeley, in his course on information visualization, introduces a number of techniques similar to those taught throughout the world. The latest technology conferences also include
events organized since 1990 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
electronics (IEEE) and other organizations, for example, the “Diagrams
2006 ”. To a certain extent, the visualization of information is strong,
reliable component of the industry. However, much more needs to be done.
PROGRESS
')
Even today, most users don't have any tools for building
diagrams or data representations as convenient as
text editors or spreadsheets. This is sad since so many people
most productively express their thoughts in non-verbal ways, in connection with which
clarification processes and descriptions can best be implemented with
using verbal-visual or even verbal-audial, especially dynamic
means. Of course, many users prefer this diagram
product, like Visio, or one of its components, such as SmartDraw.
However, not all users are familiar with them, besides these applications
incompatible with some platforms.
Of course, intelligent general-purpose products are becoming more
advanced and clear, easy to read and use. James
Fellows describes some of them in a recent article in the New York Times.
He cites as an example Devonthink Professional, an information retrieval
a system that offers simple data entry into the database of electronic messages,
web pages, text and numeric files, images, pdf files and everything that
can be "copied by pressing a key, or moved with a mouse for storage."
It is possible to combine or classify data in the process of their
receipts, or later. Methods of collecting information through a quick search
similar to Apple Macintosh Spotlight built-in tool, or
Google search bars. However, a special option here is the "show
also ", pressing which displays files or text semantically related to
search criteria with clearer criteria than most online
search engines. Another mentioned for its feature, the product has become
Tinderbox, displaying visual links between facts or ideas entered
the user in the form of quotes, themes, phrases, texts, images, diagrams and other
forms. Thus, it is possible to display extensive data in the form of text,
diagrams, sequence charts or link diagram.
Products similar to those listed above, such as a hyperbolic browser from
InXight, the result of previous Xerox PARC developments, and
also an experimental Data Mountain metaphor technology created by
Microsoft developers, mentioned by George Robertson and others, are all
use spatial syntax to display concepts and
relationship. Many of these techniques are based on a visual image.
without the use of sound. Individual developers, like Kaper and others,
focused solely on voicing data, and only a few
use both presentation technologies. Alice Preston and Susan Fowler
investigated sound phenomena at the UPA workshop in 2004 and based on the results
presented a list of great examples. And although a lot of innovative
approaches to visualization / sound information, none of them received
such global and ubiquitous application that has been achieved to
example, creating spreadsheets in the 80s.
WHAT'S EXPECTING US?
What will allow to bring these intimate approaches to the mainstream? How reliable
and a tool compatible with any system will be on everyone’s computer or
communication device in ten years? Regardless
what form it will take, it will have to solve a number of problems.
When developing new features for popular products, it is always taken in
attention a certain historical precedent. So word processing, which is already
no longer associated with the traditional printing press, to a large extent
was based on the metaphor of existing mechanical or electromechanical
devices of the previous era. The same can be said about electronic
tables developed on the basis of ledgers that have been used for centuries
accountants. Do not forget that after the invention of mobile
letters and typography in his understanding today, Guttenberg and
colleagues were confident that they only improved the process
the creation of manuscripts, in connection with which the essence of their invention, in the scale of the current
his scores remained undisclosed for decades. What of used in our
days could be the basis for a new method of visualization / sound
information? Of course, Venn diagrams, flowcharts and other basic
diagram technologies could be a good start.
Another challenge for the software product should be the ease of entry
data, as well as local and global (batch) editing. Also
A common problem is to encourage users to
performing searches using boolean operators without detailed
understanding boolean logic. How you can make logic with visual aids
requests more visual?
In addition, an important feature of the product is its processing ability.
large amount of information. As a rule of thumb was perceived
I have a fact, set forth a few decades ago by a professor
Andries Van Dame of Brown University in the context of thinking about the future
hypertext: after meaningful (no matter how much) boolean search,
the user may still be forced to view and compare up to 500
results. How can you evaluate the 500 displayed realities in one block, where
each of them has a family (plus or minus two) attributes, each of which
can be in seven (plus or minus two) states? Also worth considering is
the fact that we only have a few seconds to evaluate the data block,
Decision making and transition to the next action. For me it is
fundamental problem of reproduction of information.
In conclusion, it is necessary to mention the problem of compatibility of technology
with a variety of platforms, whether desktop or portable
environment. Today it is identical to the difference between large and small
screens - both should take full advantage
advanced approach. Compatibility with Web 2.0 also does not hurt.
Going further, do not forget Herman Hesse’s fantastic novel “The
Glass Bead Game (Magister Ludi) ”, written in 1943. In it the author
introduced the society of the future, in which all knowledge is turned into music. People,
able to adequately perceive and play music, had the status of the masters of society,
controlling him (and his) fate. I believe that with the development
advanced techniques of visualization and reproduction of information, we will be able
manage your and other people's lives more powerfully and effectively. Will hope,
that this power will be the possession of many, not of the elect.
By the way, my own fantasy about the future of information visualization
born in my imagination more than 20 years ago: I imagined
technology of the future, which was nothing more than a universal mosaic
pixels encoded to display spatial, color, dynamic and
even sound characteristics. As a result, provided an abstract
representation of a set of concepts on a universal visualization screen.
Of course, it is necessary to know and remember the semantics in order to be able to
"Read" the image. With proper design and training, this solution could
Become a highly efficient, simple, and efficient mechanism that is compatible with most hardware platforms.
Will this or other technologies be universal and ubiquitous?
application, time will tell. However, one thing remains clear - the products of the future.
should use the method of mapping structures and processes, which is still
not available to current software applications.
LINKS
1. Devonthink. http://devon-technologies.com
2. Diagrams Conference, 2006. http://diagrams-conference.org/cfp
3. Del.icio.us (bookmarks site] visualization sites: http://www.solutionwatch.com/252/visualizing-delicious-roundup/
(General roundup), http://www.ivy.fr/revealicious/index.html ,
http://www.browsedelicious.de/ , http://kevan.org/cxtispicious
4. Fellows, James (December 4, 2005). "Mac Programs That Come with Thinking
Caps On. »New York Times, p.3-3.
5. Few, Stefan (2004). Show Me the Numbers. Oakland, California:
Analytics Press.
6. Few, Stefan (2006). Information dashboard
Design. Sebastopol, California: O'Reilly.
7. Flickr visualization sites: http://www.nuthinking.com/did/tagged_colors_03/ ,
http://krazydad.com/colrpickr/ , http://marumushi.com
8. Hurst, Marty (2005). Information Visualization
University of California at Berkeley Course Description, http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/courses/is247/f05
9. Hesse, Merman (2002). The glass bead game
(Magister Ludi). New York St.
Martin's Press.
10. Symposium on Visualization of Information IEEE 2005. http://www.infovis.org/infovis/2005
11. Information Complexity - a site dedicated to the visualization of complex systems and
networks: http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc
12. The magazine “Information Visualization” http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ivs/index.html
13. Inselberg, Alfred. Parallel
Coordinates Explained http://catt.bus.okstate.edu/jones98/parallel.html
14. InXight. http://www.inxight.com
15. Kaper, H. C, C Tipay, and E. Vibel (1999). “Data Sonification and Sound
Visualization, "Computing in Science and Engineering, Vol. I, No. 4 (July / August '99),
pp. 48-58
16. Preston, Alice, and Susan Fowler (2004). Workshop on Sound in. User Interfaces, UPA 2004. Web review URL: http://www.fast-consulting.com/upa9620sounds%20and%20graphics/UPA2004
AWResults.htm
17. Robertson, George, Mary Chervinsky, Kevin Larson, Daniel S. Robbins,
David Thiel, and Maarlen van Danzlich (1998). "Data Mountain: Using Spatial Memory for Document
Management »Proc. UIST 1998 San
Francisco, p. 153. http://www.microsoft.com/usability/UEPostings/pl53-robertson.pdf
18. SmartDraw. Comparing SmartDraw and Visio. http://www.smartdraw.com/specials/visio-compare.asp?id=24520
19. Tinderbox. http://www.eastgate.com
20. Visio. Microsoft Corporation, http://office.microsoft.com
21. Visual blog, example: http://infosthetics.com/
22. Woolman, Matt (2002). Digital information
Graphics. New York:
Watson-guptill
23. Web2 0: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/17519/
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