VizualisationPart 1

Agenda

1.How the brain takes in information 2.Epistemology3.Visualisation – Historic4.Visualisation – Modern5.Visualisation – Data6.Visualisation – Technical7.Visualisation – Mapping8.Excercises

The purpose of this lecture...

• Learningo Information & knowledge in our brains

• Visualisationo Why it’s useful

• Mappingo Useful applications for study & exams

Visualisation - a quick illustration...

• 1 United States 14,204,322• 2 Japan 4,909,272• 3 China 4,326,187• 4 Germany 3,652,824• 5 France 2,853,062 a• 6 United Kingdom 2,645,593• 7 Italy 2,293,008• 8 Brazil 1,612,539• 9 Russian Federation 1,607,816• 10 Spain 1,604,174• 11 Canada 1,400,091• 12 India 1,217,490• 13 Mexico 1,085,951• 14 Australia 1,015,217• 15 Korea, Rep. 929,121• 16 Netherlands 860,336• 17 Turkey 794,228• 18 Poland 526,966• 19 Indonesia 514,389• 20 Belgium 497,586• 21 Switzerland 488,470• 22 Sweden 480,021• 23 Saudi Arabia 467,601• 24 Norway 449,996• 25 Austria 416,380• 26 Iran, Islamic Rep. 385,143• 27 Greece 356,796• 28 Denmark 342,672• 29 Argentina 328,385

• 30 Venezuela, RB 313,799• 31 Ireland 281,776• 32 South Africa 276,764• 33 Finland 271,282• 34 Thailand 260,693• 35 Portugal 242,689• 36 Colombia 242,268• 37 Czech Republic 216,485• 38 Hong Kong, China 215,355• 39 Nigeria 212,080• 40 Romania 200,071• 41 Israel 199,498• 42 Malaysia 194,927• 43 Singapore 181,948• 44 Ukraine 180,355• 45 Algeria 173,882• 46 Chile 169,458• 47 Pakistan 168,276• 48 Philippines 166,909• 49 United Arab Emirates 163,296• 50 Egypt, Arab Rep. 162,818• 51 Hungary 154,668• 52 Kazakhstan 132,229• 53 New Zealand 130,693• 54 Peru 127,434• 55 Kuwait 112,116• 56 Libya 99,926• 57 Slovak Republic 94,957• 58 Vietnam 90,705• 59 Morocco 86,329

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/GDP.pdf

World GDP - 2008

Same information - different format...

http://www.worldmapper.com

World GDP - 2008

1. How the brain takes in information

Digital camera

• CCD (charge-coupled device) and CMOS (complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor) image sensors convert light into electrons.

• The next step is to read the value (accumulated charge) of each cell in the image. In a CCD device, the charge is actually transported across the chip and read at one corner of the array.

• An analog-to-digital converter turns each pixel's value into a digital value.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question362.htm

Make an impression

Key memory systems of the brain"iconic learning"

(Novak, 2006)

2. Epistemology

(a very brief tour)

Epistemology(knowledge)

• The science and philosophy of knowledge from Greek ἐπιστήμη – “episteme-” = knowledge, science λόγος, “logos” = a subject, topic of discourse, area of study

Knowledge

• Important schools of thought in epistemologyo Constructivism - knowledge is constructed (Kant,

Piaget) "assimilation" incorporation of new experiences into already

existing framework without changing framework "accommodation" process of reframing one's mental

representation of the external world to fit new experienceso Associationism - people learn by associating things

with other things

Major concepts in Epistemology

• Constructivism• Assimilation• Accomodation• Associationism

Constructivism

• Knowledge is constructed bit by bit (1+1) Major proponents: Emmanuel Kant, Jean Piaget

Assimilation

• Incorporation of new experiences into already existing framework without changing framework.o new stuff slots in

alongside

Associationism

• People learn by associating one thing with another thing.

A = B

Friday = party

2L Scrumpy = ...?

Blue lights = ambulance

Accommodation• The process of

reframing one's mental representation of the external world to fit new experiences.o you brain moves

stuff around to fit more in...

To sum up so far:• Epistemology

o Concerned with knowledge how it gets in how it gets processed how humans learn things

• Next up... visualisationo where it starts to get colourful

3. Visualisations in History

Visualization

• Using pictures to convey messages goes back millennia (Gutherie, 2007)

• Cave markings, hieroglyphics, statues, tapestries, scrolls, etc.

• Using imagery to convey meaning:o "information graphics"o "knowledge visualization“

• Visual images add enormously to the value of information, leading to knowledge

Paleolithic cave paintings

Photograph: Sissie Brimberg/National

Lascaux, Dordoyne, France (c.13,000 years ago).

Irish Prehistoric carvings

Kilfountan, Co. Kerry

Hieroglyphics

Hieroglyphics - decrypted

Hobos – 20th Century

• Great Depression between 1930 and 1942

• Hobos (possibly an abbreviation of "homeward bound")

• Unemployment, poverty, migration

• Primitive “knowledge transfer”

Hobo symbols

4. Modern Visualisations

Charles Minard's graphical depiction of Napoleon's Russian campaign

London Underground - abstract map

Harry Beck - 1931

Pioneer Plaque

Carl Sagan - Pioneer 10, 1972, Pioneer 11, 1973

5. Data Visualisation

IBM “Many Eyes” Project

http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/home

World's Busiest Airlines by Passengers 2006

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/worlds-busiest-airlines-by-passenger-2

Airlines with Highest Accident Rates

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/airlines-with-highest-accident-rat

Air traffic over North America

http://www.aaronkoblin.com/work/flightpatterns/index.htmlAaron Koblin

When is the safest time to drive?

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/when-is-the-safest-time-to-drive-us-

(US Fatalities in 2006 by day of week, time of day)

US Traffic Fatalitites – by day & time

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/us-traffic-fatalitites-by-day-and-ti-3

US Traffic Fatalitites - time of day

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/us-traffic-fatalitites-by-day-and-ti-3

US Traffic Fatalitites - by day

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/us-traffic-fatalitites-by-day-and-ti-3

Where do Oakland (CA) Residents work?

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/where-do-oakland-residents-work

Top 25 richest Americans and how they earned their wealth.

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/richest-americans-and-wealth-sourc

McDonald's – Total fat (g) by product

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/mcdonalds-as-a-big-lipid-ball

Big Mac Carbon Footprint – energy cost ($1)

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/big-mac-carbon-footprint

The Size Of McDonald’s Nutrition

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/the-size-of-mac-donald-nutrition

Cholesterol (mg)

Percentage of Overweight Adults per Country

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/percentage-of-overweight-adults-pe

Data source: World Health Organization (WHO)

Percentage of Overweight Adults - Europe

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/percentage-of-overweight-adults-pe

Data source: World Health Organization (WHO)

2008 Alcohol Consumption per Capita

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/2008-alcohol-consumption-by-country

Total Alcohol Consumption by Country

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/3109042/The-Atlas-of-the-Real-World.html?image=12

Top 10 Certified Irish Websites (2008)

Data source: ABCE

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/bubble-chart-of-top-10-certified-iri

Conversations between 1,500 Twitter users

Walter Rafelsberger http://www.metaportaldermedienpolemik.net/blog/Blog/2008-07-02/Geosketches

Sunday Bloody Sunday

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/sunday-bloody-sunday

Meat is Murder, The Smiths (1985)

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/meat-is-murder-the-smiths-1985

IBM Many Eyes “Wordle”• A "Wordle" enables you to see how frequently words appear in a given text,

or see the relationship between a column of words and a column of numbers. You can tweak your word "clouds" with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes.

• The size of a word is proportional to the quantity associated with that word, which, in the case of free text, is the word count. For instance, if your text consists of the words "apple apple apple banana banana papaya", then "banana" will appear in a font size twice that of "papaya", and "apple" will appear in a font size 3/2 as large as "banana".

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/page/Wordle.html

European Song Contest relations

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/european-song-contest-relations

The Family Tree of Electronic Music

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/the-family-tree-of-electronic-music

http://www.esv.org/blog/2007/01/mapping.nt.social.networks

The Bible

Retail Music Revenue by Country in 2007

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/retail-music-revenue-by-country-in-2

Global Population

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/global-population

Retail Music Revenue by Country in 2007

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/retail-music-revenue-by-country-in-2

How global population has been changed since 1969

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/how-global-population-has-been-cha

Population of Irish Counties (2006)

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations/bubblemap-of-population-of-irish-cou

End Part 1