Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
cal, and diagonal lines, showing only the transfer points between lines,
allowed commuters to quickly fi gure out how to get from A to B. “Of-
ten less detail will actually convey more information, because inclusion
of overly-specifi c details cause the viewer to disregard the image be-
cause of its complexity.”
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Indeed, the recurring principles in Fry's work
are simplicity and clarity: “How can this be shown most clearly, most
cleanly?”
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Fry has also built a software platform, a sort of visual pro-
gramming language, for scientists to use in generating visualizations.
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This program, called “Processing” (developed by Fry and Casey Reas),
is a way of reorienting programming from text to images:
Graphical user interfaces became mainstream nearly twenty
years ago, but programming fundamentals are still primarily
taught through the command line interface. Classes proceed
from outputting text to the screen, to GUI, to computer graph-
ics (if at all). It is possible to teach programming in a way that
moves graphics and concepts of interaction closer to the surface.
The “Hello World” program can be replaced with drawing a
line, thus shifting the focus of computing from ASCII to images
and engaging people with visual and spatial inclinations.
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In shifting programming from ASCII to images, Fry is also attempting
to transform biological investigation from AGTC to images. Fry under-
stands his representations as means of simplifying the messy terrain of
biological data into maps that can be easily used to comprehend and
manipulate biology. These images are not intended to be printed out
or displayed in academic journals—they are thoroughly embedded in
the computational infrastructure that generates them and, to be useful,
must be continually engaged by the user in a process of interaction and
discovery.
In Fry's work, we see how seriously and deeply intertwined problems
of visualization and biology have become. In particular, we see how the
image becomes a way of doing biology computationally—Processing
is a tool both for doing biology (making images for data analysis) and
for doing programming. It is these innovations in visualization that are
driving some of the most novel work in bioinformatics. Fry's (and oth-
ers') tools allow more and more data to be digested, ordered, reordered,
and analyzed. It is through them that biologists are able to “see” what is
going on amid the masses of genomic and other data, using color, shade,
shape, and size to expose hidden patterns.
