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*Arya, Agustin A. The Hidden Side of Visualization.Techn??: Research in Philosophy and Technology. Winter 2003
What is a Visualization? How do we know we're looking at
one? What happens when we do? what goes into making one?
In his article, Arya goes to great length to describe not only
what a visualization is, but a number of factors that go into and
come out of a visualization. The real meat of the article seems to
center around proving to the reader that a visualization is really
on the as good as the sum of its parts. The user of a any
visualization is provided with an opportunity to be shown
information in a new and different way and, with any luck and if
done correctly, the visualization, Arya argues, has the potential
to literally change the way the user thinks';this.style.color = '#ff0000';" onMouseOut = "this.innerHTML = 'thinks';this.style.color = '#000000';">thinks.
An interesting section of the article comes to light, as Arya is
developing the idea of the user, or even the creator, of a
visualization experiencing what he describes as a Galilean
Moment.';this.style.color = '#ff0000';" onMouseOut = "this.innerHTML = 'Galilean
Moment.';this.style.color = '#000000';">Galilean
Moment.This moment,';this.style.color = '#ff0000';" onMouseOut = "this.innerHTML = 'moment,';this.style.color = '#000000';">moment, in layman's terms, is the moment
that a person can make sense of the environment in such a way that
geometric shapes can be used a models or visual aids';this.style.color = '#ff0000';" onMouseOut = "this.innerHTML = 'visual aids';this.style.color = '#000000';">visual aids for
explanation and understanding. This is where a visualization
becomes powerful. Expanding further on this topic, Arya suggests
that a more advanced Cartesian Moment';this.style.color = '#ff0000';" onMouseOut = "this.innerHTML = 'Cartesian Moment';this.style.color = '#000000';">Cartesian Moment can also occur, where
the user not only realizes the potential of geometric shapes as
representations of the environment, but also be measured, and
therefore provide even further opportunity for understanding of the
information it represents.
Arya also makes not of the moment in which a visualization
becomes useful';this.style.color = '#ff0000';" onMouseOut = "this.innerHTML = 'useful';this.style.color = '#000000';">useful to the user, like a tool, relating it to
Heideggerian philosophy. Heideggerian philosophy talks about a tool
being "present at hand" vs being "ready at
hand." A tool is considered present-at-hand when it is not
obvious what it can be used for, by the user. A tool being
ready-at-hand, conversely, is a tool that is not only obvious to
the user what it is used for, but actually becomes an extension
of';this.style.color = '#ff0000';" onMouseOut = "this.innerHTML = 'of';this.style.color = '#000000';">of the user. The tool exists as a thing, and the thing
things.';this.style.color = '#ff0000';" onMouseOut = "this.innerHTML = 'things.';this.style.color = '#000000';">things. This is the ideal, Arya argues, of any
visualization: to be ready-at-hand for the user, in such a way that
the user is not held back by the visualization, but it cognitively
extended by it, so that their thinking can be enhanced, or even
changed by the information it represents.
The article requires a certain amount of concentration to read,
as it is packed with information about visualizations. Given the
opportunity, however, the article also has the potential to change
the way the reader views visualizations in general.
