Introduction
Abstract
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Introduction
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IV Techniques
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Applications
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Proposals
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References
This section presents the following topics:
Why Information Visualization?
This section discusses the rationale for looking at Information Visualization as a solution
to assimilating information. It discusses the usual suspects:
- the explosion of information available on the WWW
- larger hard disk sizes mean more information available quickly
- the mismatch between computer displays and the human perceptual system
- the mismatch between computer controls and human motor functions
What information visualization provides that other interfaces do not:
- a means of easily seeing trends in the data
- a means of easily seeing outliers
- a means of seeing jumps in the data (gaps)
- a means of easily identifying maxima and minima like largest, smallest, most recent,
oldest, etc.
- a means of identifying boundaries (not the same as maxima or jumps)
- a means of easily identifying clusters in the data
- a means of finding structure in heterogeneous information
- a means of seeing an enormous amount of data on one display screen
- a means of seeing a particular item of interest within the context of an enormous
amount of contextual data
What is Information Visualization?
Visual Information Seeking Mantra:
Overview first, zoom and filter, then details-on-demand. (Schneiderman)
Information Visualization is:
- presenting information in such a way that as much as possible can be assimilated by
the human perceptual system instead of relying on the human cognitive system
- presenting detailed information about a specific topic while also presenting a
complete overview of all information available (the fisheye concept)
- The term was introduced by Card et al. in their seminal paper [CARD91]. They
intended to draw on background in the area of Scientific Visualization. They saw
parallels between the two visualization fields in terms of their purpose (extracting
salient dimensions from multidimensionala data) and their methods (using
advanced 3D graphics and animation techniques to present data. Since the time of
that paper. Information Visualization has come to be regarded less as a branch or
offshoot of Scientific Visualization and more as an offshoot of Human-Computer
Interaction (HCI). In particular, in keeping with HCI's roots in both computer science
and cognitive psychology, Information Visualization now carries the HCI torch of
tailoring computer-to-human communication technques to the human
perceptual system.
Information visualization uses computer graphics and interactive animation to
stimulate recognition of patterns and structure in information. It does so by
exploiting the human perceptual system in ways similar to Scientific
Visualization, which allows scientists to perceive patters in large data
collections....Information visualization works on the structure of information
inherent in large information spaces. [ROBE91b]
The basic problem is how to utilize advancing graphics technology to lower the
cost of finding information and accessing it once found. [ROBE93]
Visualization enables people to use a natural tool of observation and
processingÑtheir eyes as well as their brainÑto extract knowledge more
efficiently and find insights. [GERS95b]
Information, then, need not be inherently spatial. But because we live and
perceive in a physical world, it is easier to convey the information to the
observer if the information is represented by being mapped to the familiar
physical space. [GERS95b]
While the term "information visualization" is coming into use, the goal is
really "information perceptualization." The latter implies a richer use of
many senses, including sound and touch, to increase the rate at which people can
assimilate and understand information. [CARD96]
Using Perception
We speak of offloading the task of information assimilation from the perceptual
system to the cognitive system. This means that we tailor the information so that the
eye can quickly distinguish salient features before the brain begins to process it. The
perceptual system operates in a time range of 10 to 100 milliseconds. The cognitive
systems operated in a time range of hundreds of milliseconds to several minutes. If we
can tailor the information such that the perceptive system can process, we can speed the
task of human information assimilation by several orders of magnitude.
To do this, we must present the information using features that the eye can distinguish
quickly. These features include, but are not limited to, the following:
- color
- size
- shape
- location / position
- others?
We use these features, and look for others that aid the human perceptual system in
distinguishing salient information.
Humans can recognize the spatial configuration of elements in a picture and
notice relationships among elements quickly. This highly developed visual
system means people can grasp the content of a picture much faster than
they can scan and understand text.
Interface designers can capitalize on this by shifting some of the cognitive
load of information retrieval to the perceptual system. By appropriately coding
properties by size, position, shape, and color, we can greatly reduce the need
for explicit selection, sorting, and scanning operations. [SHNE94]
The eye is not equally sensitive to detecting horizontal and vertical lines (or features).
the apparent location of vertical lines is often displaced, whereas the apparent location of
horizontal lines is not....people can better perceive the relative positions of horizontal, in
contrast to vertical lines.
Problems with 3D coding: from [FADIVA Shneiderman]
- clutter
- obscuring (occlusion)
- disorientation (eg. web browsing)
- being inside the data
- scalability (ie can we use it for very large data spaces?)
Abstract
|
Introduction
|
IV Techniques
|
Applications
|
Proposals
|
References
This page maintained by Mark Brautigam
(PDA version)
Last updated 1 March 1997