1. Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program UC Santa Barbara MAT 259 Visualizing Information Winter 2007 Narrative in Data Visualization

2. Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program UC Santa Barbara MAT 259 Visualizing Information Winter 2007 Visual Information & Narrative  Information needs to be contextualized to give it meaning  Process of visualizing data consists of giving it form and meaning through narrative  Narrative structure: spatial, and/or time  2D visualization: Can express time through movement around the space of the image  Or through sequence of images  3D spatial visualization: Multiple point of views

3. Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program UC Santa Barbara MAT 259 Visualizing Information Winter 2007 Narrative Temporal Structure 1.Start: Situation definition 2.Event: Event, transition, action, verb, etc. 3.Closure: Group information to make sense  Any of the 3 may be implied  Story normally evolves in time  Time often represented in space (graph)

4. Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program UC Santa Barbara MAT 259 Visualizing Information Winter 2007 After the Storm: Simulation of a Severe Storm  Sequence: implies plot development  Divided screen: subsections imply sequence  Shape: Horizontal implies time length  Spatial proximity: object placed next to another signifies relationship  Direction: left-to-right, or reverse  Scale: signifies hierarchy  Repetition: Rhythmic emphasis

5. Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program UC Santa Barbara MAT 259 Visualizing Information Winter 2007 After the Storm: Simulation of a Severe Storm  Original video produced from data generated by a simulation on a CRAY supercomputer at NCSA, Illinois  The simulation models the genesis and lifetime of a severe storm  Edward Tufte proposed some optimization to the visualization

6. Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program UC Santa Barbara MAT 259 Visualizing Information Winter 2007 After the Storm: Simulation of a Severe Storm  Reduce impact of grid as it is too dominant  Aim for “just-noticeable difference”  Reduce dramatized colors (naturalize)  Provide clear timeline (red horizontal line)  Replace frentic time clock with mini-icons  Clarify that vertical scale is non-proportional  Make the storm the dominant visual element

7. Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program UC Santa Barbara MAT 259 Visualizing Information Winter 2007 After the Storm: Simulation of a Severe Storm

8. Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program UC Santa Barbara MAT 259 Visualizing Information Winter 2007 After the Storm: Color Coding Issues  Colors based on “intent of analysis tasks”  Colorbar necessary to identify quantitative data values  Fewer colors that group best is better then full rainbow  For best color discrimination, use a limited color scheme (4 to 7)

9. Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program UC Santa Barbara MAT 259 Visualizing Information Winter 2007 After the Storm: Simulation of a Severe Storm

10. Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program UC Santa Barbara MAT 259 Visualizing Information Winter 2007 Cinematic Time Based Narrative (Gérard Genette)  Order: Temporal-order of the narrative  Duration: Timing structure of the narrative  Frequency: relationship between event and its retelling  Mood: Distance and perspective 1.Distance: Is it told in direct, indirect mode? 2.Perspective: point of view From a fixed position Outside the action Narrator knows less then the characters  Voice: What kind of narrator implied?

11. Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program UC Santa Barbara MAT 259 Visualizing Information Winter 2007 In the Screen/Image: Visual Narrative Tools  Sequence: implies plot development  Divided screen: subsections imply sequence  Shape: Horizontal implies time length  Spatial proximity: object placed next to another signifies relationship  Direction: left-to-right, or reverse  Scale: signifies hierarchy  Repetition: Rhythmic emphasis

12. Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program UC Santa Barbara MAT 259 Visualizing Information Winter 2007 Invisible Shape of Things Past, Art + Com, BerlinArt + Com  A spatial, temporal concept for the organization and navigation of film objects of a particular site over time  Video Documentation Video Documentation  Pdf Document Pdf Document

13. Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program UC Santa Barbara MAT 259 Visualizing Information Winter 2007 Bibliography  “After the Storm: considerations for Information Visualization”, NCSA, U of Illinois  “Visual Explanations”, Edward Tufte  Art + Com, Berlin