What storytelling can do for information visualization

Reviewer: Shannon Brown

Information visualization uses visual elements, text, and the human ability to fill in the blanks to represent complex information. Rather than represent data in a simple, logical context—e.g., a list, a graph, or a table—information is organized into images, animations, or visual sequences. Information visualization, by definition, is designed to tell a story about the information and to present the story in an intuitive and compelling manner. While the process is similar to presenting an animation or movie, the complexity of the message and the volume of information conveyed creates specific challenges for the information visualization designer—that is, the exercise is not to simply create pretty pictures of the data. When used properly and by persons aware of the challenge of the task, information visualization is an effective tool for presenting very complex information in an intuitive, storylike structure. Since each information visualization is unique, the information visualization designer must identify an appropriate medium for delivering the visualization. A single method is not appropriate for all information visualizations. Information visualization may be more prevalent in our society than anticipated. Many military systems (heads-up displays), computer games (overhead views of a playing area), and software engineering tools (UML and use-cases) use information visualization techniques to convey very complex information in a visual context. The examples indicate the efficacy of information visualization and support the argument. Gershon and Page correctly and accurately identify, codify, and legitimize an effective method of presenting information and provide general guidelines for using the method.