We discussed in the third week's session of Information Systems different concepts of Visualizing and Communicating Information such as Information design and data Visualization. These concepts integrate tools, technologies and methods that enable human beings to communicate more effectively technical information and to extract at a glance greater meaning from it. Information Design addresses effective communication with a rational and scientific eye, while Data Visualization is the key to extract instant meaning from large amounts of information.
These two images are live examples of Visualizing Information on Science.
The first image represents a radial visualization based on hierarchical edge bundling, which gives an overview of the whole citation network. The colors represent the four main groups of journals that are further subdivided into fields in the outer ring. The segments of the inner ring represent the individual journals, scaled by Eigenfactor Score. In the initial view, the top 1000 citation links are plotted. Line size and opacity represents connection strength. The Bezier curves follow the hierarchical cluster structure, using the hierarchical edge bundling technique (pdf). Selecting a single journal (inner ring) or whole field (outer ring) displays all citation flow coming in or out of the selection.
The second image is a network visualization that puts journals, which frequently cite each other, closer together. You can drag the white magnification lens around to enlarge a part of the map for closer inspection. Clicking one of the nodes will highlight all its connections. If a journal is selected, the node sizes represent the relative amount of citation flow (incoming and outgoing) with respect to the selection; otherwise, they are scaled by their Eigenfactor Score.
Interesting Picture.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThe concept of Visualization is such an old one in the sense that it had been used since a long time ago dating back to Plato's Cave. It is a wonderful technique that delivers concrete and abstract communicative values by using diagramed and animated imagery. This intuitive approach triggers that kind of sharp and interactive eye and subsequently the mind to explore and understand allowing what linguists call “pragmatics”. Past doubt, Information Visualization should develop and keep on developing, most importantly in order to make it easier for people to comprehend things rather than complicate matters and thus giving them the opportunity to turn their eyes and minds away.
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