Interactive Visualization
In the introduction to Interactive Visualizaton, Bill
Ferster defines the term “information visualization” and provides a history of
its uses, going all the way back to Leonardo DaVinci’s illustration of
Vitruvian man and illustrations of London’s cholera epidemic in the nineteenth century.
He states the current definition of information visualization as “the use of
computer-supported, interactive, visual representations of abstract data to
amplify cognition” (4).
In providing a history of information visualization,
Ferster further explains how the evolution of personal computing has taken
information visualization to new heights, allowing for its uses especially in
the academy and in journalism. He also further defines interactive
visualization as “a subset of information visualization” that “share[s] most of
its features. Specifically, they add the ability for the end user to interact
dynamically with the visualization in a reflexive manner” 8).
Ferster also breaks down three categories of visualization
models, defining them as theoretical, descriptive, and prescriptive. The
chapter then delves into different theories about visualization that are
applicable to each category and defines the ASSERT model, designed to “support
the creation of visualizations that are accessible, insightful, educational,
compelling, and that build on the traditions of historical and social science
research” (39-40).
In terms of my own project, I found reading Ferster’s
definitions to be helpful in clarifying the type of visualization that I am
interested in creating and in helping me think through the interactive and
visual features it would contain.
My current plan is to use VisualEyes (although perhaps
there’s a better tool for my project; I have been mentally configuring it in
VisualEyes up to this point) to tell the story of and catalogue information
about several women novelists/other literary figures who all attended
Somerville College at Oxford University in the early twentieth century. Founded
in 1879, Somerville was one of the first Oxford colleges to admit women,
although women could not actually earn a degree from Oxford until 1920. But
many novelists and other women influential in the literary scene went to Somerville
within a few years of each other, but have received little scholarly attention and
many of the works are out-of-print.
At this point, my research question(s) is: what is the
impact of this one specific location for intellectual activity (Somerville College)
on this group of writers, and what were their stories/sphere of influence once
they left? (for instance, one Somerville attendee in 1904, Margaret Haig Thomas,
went on to establish a feminist publication that lasted from the 1920s-50s.
Vera Brittain attended Somerville several years later—and her education was
interrupted by three years spent nursing soldiers in France during WWI, but
returned to Somerville to finish her education and became well-known through
her memoir Testament of Youth).
As for evidence, some basic biographical info on these
women exists on Wikipedia. Some of their works are also available for free through
Project Gutenberg or the HathiTrust. My main source of data at the moment is a
monograph, Dangerous by Degrees: Women at Oxford and the Somerville College
Novelists by Susan J. Leonardi, published in 1989 (although I’m not
necessarily interested in limiting my project to these six novelists—Leonardi studied
these six for specific reasons and only looks at 8 years of history at
Somerville). There is also some scholarship available on the feminist publication
Time and Tide established by Margaret Haig Thomas.
Since this is something has already been written about
(although limited), perhaps I should rephrase my research question to be: is
there a way to visually tell the story of this web of individuals? By using
Visual Eyes, I was thinking the drop-down could allow for selecting a different
author, which would show the viewer a basic timeline of that person’s life, a
mapping of the places they lived/went after Oxford (so Oxford being the “hub”
of the wheel, building a network outward), and some way to convey their best-known
work(s) (I would also love to include a way for viewers to see what is still in
print and where you can get their works i.e. links to Project Gutenberg, etc).
Question for Bill Ferster: How can you (or can you?) approach
a project where the visual element may not be as compelling, but the
interactivity is your primary goal? Is there still a way to tell a story
through the accumulation of information in one location, even if it’s not “super”
visually compelling?
Work Cited: Ferster, Bill. Interactive Visualization: Insight Through Inquiry. MIT Press, 2013.
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