THE BEGINNINGS OF MEDIEVAL INFORMATION VISUALIZATION - Information Visualisation: Techniques, Usability and Evaluation - page 17

(dry). The schema's generality allows it to be used for displaying the
direction of the winds, temperatures, and more. Through the thirteenth
century, rotae became the standard means for visualizing a multiplicity of
concepts.
Fig. 1.8 Annus-Mundus-Homo diagram, Isidore of Seville, second third of the
ninth century ( MS Cod. Pa 32, fol. 62r, Zofingen, Stadtbibliothek).
Origins
Pinpointing either the true author or inventor of these visualizations is an
open issue. Unlike today's manuscripts, in which rigorous attribution to
external sources is essential, the works of medieval manuscripts may be a
blend of adaptations from earlier authors, original content, and personal
commentary, offering only minimal credit to works of others. Medieval
manuscripts may not be exact transcriptions of lost originals. Copyists
may have modified or adapted each manuscript to suit their particular
needs.
One approach to assessing whether a diagram was at least intended to
be part of a manuscript is to look at where it resides. As a first
approximation, if a diagram is found in a marginal gloss, it may have been
added later. If the image is found within the flow of the narrative text, then