Monday, September 19, 2011

Reaction: Eyes have it

The author starts off by speaking of a mantra for designing advanced graphical user interfaces i.e. the visual information seeking Mantra: overview first, zoom and filter, then details on demand. Author very well states that as computer speed and display resolution increase, information visualization and graphical interfaces are likely to have an broadened role and proposes a task by data type taxonomy with seven data types and seven tasks.

I like the way he explains all the seven data types and tasks by giving previous, current and future relevant and informative examples like for 3-dimensional data type the challenge offered is to navigate the images of human body in National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Project. Another examples include the technique of parallel coordinates in multi dimensional data type and Fisheye strategy for overview of the entire collection.

I agree with the author's point that the striking perceptual abilities of humans are not at all utilized in current user interfaces and hence if explored can give rise to many new remarkable opportunities. According to the author the unique information exploration tools like dynamic queries, tree maps, fisheye views, parallel coordinated, star fields, and perspective walls are few inventions that will we have to validated and studied.

I even agree that for commercial products to succeed they will have to accommodate not just one but many dimensional datas and provide smooth integration with existing software and support the full task list.

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