MAT 259 Visualizing Information
MAT 259 Visualizing Information
Winter 2006, e-studio, Art 2220
Tues 10:00-12:00, Lecture
Thurs 10:00-12:00, Lab
George Legrady, legrady@arts.ucsb.edu
TA Angus Forbes, angus.forbes@gmail.com
Media Arts and Technology
Graduate Program
UC Santa Barbara
George Legrady
Course Web Site : http://www.mat.ucsb.edu/~g.legrady/
(click on “courses”, click on “MAT 259”)
Winter 2006
1
MAT 259 Visualizing Information
Course Goals

An introduction to information visualization

An overview of varied methodologies

Comparison between uses in diverse disciplines

Introduction to self-organizing algorithms

Project driven course with focus on theory and practice
1) Working with cultural data,
2) Exploration of methodologies,
3) Visualization output to reflect aesthetic consideration
Media Arts and Technology
Graduate Program
UC Santa Barbara
George Legrady
Winter 2006
2
MAT 259 Visualizing Information
Workload

Attendance at weekly lectures

Active participation

Online reports on readings

Attendance & reports on visiting lectures

Completion of warm-up and final projects
Media Arts and Technology
Graduate Program
UC Santa Barbara
George Legrady
Winter 2006
3
MAT 259 Visualizing Information
Visualization & Cross-Disciplinary Fertilization

Domain visualization, an emerging field

Multi-disciplinary: Difficult to get the overview of the field

Researchers bring their own discipline’s perspective

Examination of other disciplines: export and import of
methods, ideas, models, or empirical results

Creative imagination required to foresee how outside info
fits the problem at hand
Media Arts and Technology
Graduate Program
UC Santa Barbara
George Legrady
Winter 2006
4
MAT 259 Visualizing Information
Discipline Driven Methodologies

Each discipline has a particular implementation goal

LSIS: citation indexing, bibliographic indexing, etc.

Scientific Visualization: Map physical phenomena in 2D,
or 3D

Information Visualization: Analyzing and transforming
nonspatial data into visual form

Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Cartographic
framework, a familiar way to map data

Art: Aesthetics, complexity, culturally meaningful results
Media Arts and Technology
Graduate Program
UC Santa Barbara
George Legrady
Winter 2006
5
MAT 259 Visualizing Information
Goal Driven Methodologies

Information Visualization: visually map abstract,
nonspatial info

Information retrieval research in vast data sets

Depicting the overall semantic structure of a set of
documents

Identifying patterns through visualization (DNA)
Media Arts and Technology
Graduate Program
UC Santa Barbara
George Legrady
Winter 2006
6
MAT 259 Visualizing Information
User Meta Model

Data Extraction

Definition of Units of Analysis

Selection of Measures

Calculation of similarity between units

Ordination: assignments of coordinates to each unit

Analysis and Interpretation of output visualization
Media Arts and Technology
Graduate Program
UC Santa Barbara
George Legrady
Winter 2006
7
MAT 259 Visualizing Information
Classification Methods
Media Arts and Technology
Graduate Program
UC Santa Barbara
George Legrady

Alphabetical: arbitrary learned system

Numeric: arbitrary learned system

Scalar: (hotel star system) implies value scale

Sequential (time): based on units

Spatial: “sense of place”

Categories: similar things grouped together

Associative: (If a to b, then c to d)

Metaphoric: A way to establish context

Random: Creates complexity (game beginnings)
Winter 2006
8
MAT 259 Visualizing Information
Visualization Process

Multivariate data to be presented in 2D in print or computer
screen

by applying mathematical dimensionality algorithms to map
the data

Clustering techniques to group similar data

Spatial proximity matrix: similar data/close,
difference/distance

Large amounts of data presented in limited space:

Panning, zooming, filtering to access data
Media Arts and Technology
Graduate Program
UC Santa Barbara
George Legrady
Winter 2006
9
MAT 259 Visualizing Information
What is Visualization?

Design of the visual appearance of data objects and their
relationships

Ability to comprehend large amounts of data

Reduction in search time through visualization

Provides a better understanding of complex data sets

Reveal relationships and properties through visual
perception

Multiple simultaneous perspectives

Effective communication
Media Arts and Technology
Graduate Program
UC Santa Barbara
George Legrady
Winter 2006
10
MAT 259 Visualizing Information
Formal & Aesthetic Functions

Visualization Design: years of expertise and diverse skills

Visual communication: a language system (function of
form, colors, etc)

Complex data relationship benefit from storytelling

Narrative methods enhance communication
Media Arts and Technology
Graduate Program
UC Santa Barbara
George Legrady
Winter 2006
11
MAT 259 Visualizing Information
Interaction Design

Search and browse through data

Zoom, filtering, panning, etc.

1) Overview, 2) Zoom-in (filter), 3) Details-on-demand

“Browsing explores both the organization or structure of the
information space, and its content” (Chen, 1998)

Information architects design layered info spaces based on
classification systems

Media Arts and Technology
Graduate Program
UC Santa Barbara
George Legrady
3 Navigational Paradigms: 1) spatial, 2) semantic, 3) social
(using behavior of like-minded people) (Dourish)
Winter 2006
12
MAT 259 Visualizing Information
Visualization Outcomes

Effective exploitation of perceptual principles

Helps communication with non-specialists

Discover hidden (semantic) patterns, structures

Contribute to knowledge development in all disciplines
Media Arts and Technology
Graduate Program
UC Santa Barbara
George Legrady
Winter 2006
13
MAT 259 Visualizing Information
References (Selected)

“Visualizing Knowledge Domains”, Borner, Chen, Boyak

Journal of Information Visualization

Kohonen Self-Organizing Algorithm

Visual Complexity

Information Aesthetics

Edward Tufte
Media Arts and Technology
Graduate Program
UC Santa Barbara
George Legrady
Winter 2006
14