Comments on: How Good Can Visualization Get? http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/2007/01/21/how-good-can-visualization-get/ Adaptive Path Blog Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:31:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Ian Muir : Geek Extrodinaire » Blog Archive » Data Design http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/2007/01/21/how-good-can-visualization-get/#comment-38501 Ian Muir : Geek Extrodinaire » Blog Archive » Data Design Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:40:01 +0000 http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/2007/01/21/how-good-can-visualization-get/#comment-38501 [...] I recently found the Feltron Report by way of Adaptive Path. It’s a report outlining Nicholas Felton’s activities this year, which is not a horribly engaging topic. However, I read through every page of the report. Feltron has taken mundane details about his life and made something that is quite nteresting. [...] [...] I recently found the Feltron Report by way of Adaptive Path. It’s a report outlining Nicholas Felton’s activities this year, which is not a horribly engaging topic. However, I read through every page of the report. Feltron has taken mundane details about his life and made something that is quite nteresting. [...]

]]> By: Jeff Carpenter http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/2007/01/21/how-good-can-visualization-get/#comment-38487 Jeff Carpenter Mon, 22 Jan 2007 16:36:21 +0000 http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/2007/01/21/how-good-can-visualization-get/#comment-38487 Great post! I agree that we should "enable everyone to discover meaning in the patterns of the everyday." However, it may not be enough to leave this job to Interaction Designers. There are too few of us! This is a very large task, and the challenge grows every day as more and more information is digitized, tracked and recorded. Embedding better visualization tools within popular office or web productivity tools is a good idea. However, I am attempting to take the opposite approach. By creating a generic visualization product, that leverages the ubiquitous spreadsheet, maybe we can empower people to discover their own meaning. The advantage here is that their data and creativity are not limited by the application that contains a cool visualization. Certainly, the result will not be as striking or captivating as the work done by Feltron or Google. But if the end goal is to promote understanding of everyday information, why not arm everyone with powerful, flexible and easy to use visualization tools? -Jeff Carpenter <a href="http://www.agilegraph.com" rel="nofollow"> www.agilegraph.com </A> Great post! I agree that we should “enable everyone to discover meaning in the patterns of the everyday.”

However, it may not be enough to leave this job to Interaction Designers. There are too few of us! This is a very large task, and the challenge grows every day as more and more information is digitized, tracked and recorded.

Embedding better visualization tools within popular office or web productivity tools is a good idea. However, I am attempting to take the opposite approach.

By creating a generic visualization product, that leverages the ubiquitous spreadsheet, maybe we can empower people to discover their own meaning. The advantage here is that their data and creativity are not limited by the application that contains a cool visualization.

Certainly, the result will not be as striking or captivating as the work done by Feltron or Google. But if the end goal is to promote understanding of everyday information, why not arm everyone with powerful, flexible and easy to use visualization tools?

-Jeff Carpenter
http://www.agilegraph.com

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