Visualization, Semantics, and Aesthetics

Jennifer Recknagel

Petree hall D
15 August 01

The Visualization, Semantics, and Aesthetics panel was brought together to discuss the role that aesthetics play in semantic understanding. As a group, their research promotes the use of artistic knowledge in the creation of complex systems of data visualization. Brought together by Sara Diamond of the Banff Center for the Arts, this group shared ideas on how to incorporate visual cues, such as pattern, symmetry, gesture, and sonic guides, in to information spaces.

Needless to say, in a world that is increasingly polluted by data smog, this research is tremendously important. Not all information is informative, and the proliferation of useless data is verging on the ridiculous. Something must be done. Aside from the obvious trash, the question becomes, how can we
design systems that allow us to visualize large volumes of data, at the same as improve upon our ability to comprehend it? The common thread in the presentations seemed to be the need to exploit the multimodal possibilities of digital technology in order to create more meaningful data representation. By layering meaning on top of plain texts, we can set up a meta situation in which dynamic understanding occurs.

See also: http://helios.siggraph.org/s2001/conference/panels/panels6.html