”Confusion and clutter are failures of design, not attributes of information.” - Edward R. Tufte

On Information

Guru: Edward R. Tufte

”Confusion and clutter are failures of design, not attributes of information” Edward R. Tufte

Visualizing the editing history of Wikipedia pages - Viégas, Wattenberg & Dave or google “history flow” IBM

Graphic Tools

Choosing data... Show only relevant data –Otherwise: clutter Show only reliable data –Otherwise: distrust Most important data comes first / is more colorful / is larger / etc! Provide several views –Layering data vs not layering it

Information Visualization

”The use of computer- supported, interactive, visual representations of abstract data to amplify cognition” - Card, Mackinlay & Shneiderman

Zooming and lenses

Semantic Zoom When information changes (and typically gets richer) when zooming in.

Magic Lenses: Transparent - Different properties - Change view Toolglass and Magic Lenses. Bier, E., et al., 1993

The Document Lens G.G.Robertson and J.D.Mackinlay

Focus + Context

Focus + Context: To display the most important data at the focal point at full size and detail, and display the area around the focal point (the context) to help make sense of how the important information relates to the entire data structure. Regions far from the focal point may be displayed smaller (as in fisheye views) or selectively omitted.

Fisheye Views

Main issue: Distortion "Well....thanks to the lame ass security, I’m going home!" Axl W Rose, July Riverport Amphitheatre, St. Louis, Missouri,

Hyperbolic Geometry

 Typically laid out in circles, or onto globes or hemispheres  Focal point in the center  The further from the center the smaller the items  Allows angles or positions to stay constant when changing focus but not both... Hyperbolic geometry

Trees

Hierarchical tree v. 1

Hierarchical tree v.2

Disk tree

Cone tree...

Tree Map – node within node