Reaction: Distributed Cognition as a Theoretical Framework for Information Visualization

The paper takes a very different approach towards the field of InfoViz by attempting to propose a theoretical foundation for it using the Distributed Cognition framework. The paper tries to theorize the ‘amplify cognition’ part of the InfoVi z, which has been very much ignored so for. The author gives a very distinct view on amplification of cognition by stating that the amplification is not actually of the memory or knowledge but the amplification is achieved with the interaction of individual with the environment with the help of perception and action. The author takes this approach further and describes the DCog framework in detail with the help of examples. In that he majorly describes internal and external representations and the inter-relations.

The paper however seems to lose the track towards the end. It fails to directly relate the DCog framework with InfoViz. However author has made it clear that there has not been enough research is not yet complete as DCog may not be able to provide explanations for all the aspects of cognition. The rest of the paper focuses on further development to be done on cognition part in general. It would have been more apt to discuss these points with respect to InfoViz.