interfaces for big data visualization
jonathan stray overview project associated press

Ben Fry,
Computational Information Design

visualization extends perception

“Visualization allows people to offload
cognition to the perceptual system, using carefully designed images as a form of external memory. The human visual system is a very high- bandwidth channel to the brain, Tamara Munzner with a significant amount of processing occurring in parallel and at the pre-conscious level.”

a visualization turns something you
want to find into something you can see

clusters outliers
extents correlations

work with human perception

work with human senses work
with human memory work with human cognition

you have never seen a
violin. perception involves interactively directing narrow attention

don’t show it all. (you
can’t anyway)

filter

summarize

categories = “distance metric” +
clustering algorithm d(x, y) ≥ 0 d(x, x) = 0 d(x, y) = d(y, x) d(x, z) ≤ d(x, y) + d(y, z) k-means single link hierachical

annotate

snapshots tags
notes history

demo
the overview project
overview.ap.org

the world does not spring
magically into our heads. neither does big data. Interface extends perception. thanks @jonathanstray