Database Reference
In-Depth Information
rationally emerge from empirical data: it is impossible to justify a law by obser-
vation or experiment, since it 'transcends experience'.
Information Visualization is still an inductive method in the sense that it is
meant at generating new insights and ideas that are the seeds of theories, but
it does it by using human perception as a very fast filter: if vision perceives
some pattern, there might be a pattern in the data that reveals a structure.
Drilling down allows the same perception system to confirm or infirm the pattern
very quickly. Therefore, information visualization is meant at “speeding up” the
process of filtering among competing theories regarding collected data by relying
on the speed of the perception system. Therefore, it plays a special role in the
sciences as an insight generating method. It is not only compatible with Popper's
epistemology system but it furthermore provides a mechanism for accelerating
its otherwise painful Darwinian selection process.
1.2 Moving Forward
It is clear that InfoVis researchers and practitioners face an important challenge
in communicating the value of InfoVis. In the remainder of the paper we explore
this challenge more deeply and we provide several answers to the questions “How
and why is InfoVis useful?”. Since there are several audiences to convince, we
present a number of different sections that are each facets of argumentation to
explain why InfoVis is useful and effective as a mean of understanding complex
datasets and developing insights. The contents of the sections are gathered from
practitioners who already attested that the arguments developed were convinc-
ing. We hope they will be useful to you as well.
2 Cognitive and Perceptual Arguments
Several famous historical figures have argued that the eye was the main sense to
help us understand nature.
The eye. . .
the window of the soul,
is the principal means
by which the central sense
can most completely and
abundantly appreciate
the infinite works of nature.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)
Leonardo's words are inspirational and they are echoed in everyday expressions
that we are all familiar with such as, “Seeing is believing” and “A picture is worth
a thousand words.” Is there actual support for these sentiments, however?
Let us first consider the case of the phrase, “A picture is worth a thousand
words.” While people may agree or disagree with the sentiments behind that
cliche, specific examples can help support the claim. Consider, for instance, the
Search WWH ::
Custom Search