TIGSource Forums

OK, so lately I've got to thinking about visual representations of data.  So, what do I mean by all this?  Well:

Fundamental:

Technically all the words here are just 1's and 0's, and those 1's and 0's are being visualized (decoded then displayed) as words we recognize.  There is a certain sequence of 1's and 0's for the word "indie," and "indie" is displayed by a computer visualizing that sequence.

What's the significance in all this?

"Indie," as a sequence of 1's and 0's, is meaningless to us.  In all likelihood we would have no idea that the sequence we were looking at represents the word "indie."

A better example is how a sequence of numerical statistics may mean little to us, but if those numbers are visualized in graph form (histograms maybe) we are suddenly able to quickly understand them and extrapolate concepts and/or ideas from them.  We may have been able to extrapolate things from the original numbers, but I think it's safe to say that graphs (visualizations) speed up the process massively.

So then to reiterate, visualizations allow for faster comprehension of data.  Given our increasingly data-ridden world, increased comprehension speed seems like a very big deal to me.  It also allows for something a lot more important...

What am I thinking about?

My current thought has focused on the untapped possibilities of visualization.  Certain computer processes and code are not currently visualized (I'm thinking of low-level system stuff that keeps the computer running; or, say, anti-virus processes), and because of that only high-level programmers (or, high-level by "commoner" standards) understand these processes and events.

So imagine, for a moment, if anti-virus processes were visualized, and if there was a stage in the process that, with the help of visualization, a human could complete more efficiently than a computer.  Without visualization, comprehending the data would make the human involvement futile, as not to many humans could actually "help out."  As in all cases though, well designed visualization would allow for the quick comprehension of the presented data, ideally making anyone a useful asset to a computer process.  Visualizations like this could negatively empower individuals as well, and could theoretically make it a whole lot easier to hack.

What's next / examples

Some interesting, primitive experiments have taken place on TIGS in relation to visualization, and I'd like to highlight nurykabe's PGC entry dropTD (thread (http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=1691.0)).  It generates Tower Defense levels based off code that exists for other purposes.  As a visualization tool it is quite marvelous, as it takes something that it utterly meaningless to us and gives it meaning (even though this meaning wasn't intended).

A fantastic psudo-example is REZ.  The game itself isn't visualization, but the story makes it about that.  In REZ the character is hacking through a computer system, except it's not just lines of code, it's a geometric world with enemies, walls, etc.  The act of breaking down a firewall looks like something else entirely.

Comparable to REZ would be Cyberspace in William Gibson's cyberpunk novel Neuromancer.  The protagonist hacker Case breaks into a company's computer systems through cyberspace in a description that sounds incredibly similar like REZ (and given the book's age, may even have helped inspire it).

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To end this off, I suppose the question must be asked, is simplifying some complex data into understandable, practical visualizations even possible?  I'd like to hesitantly argue "yes."

Discuss!

Best use of paragraphs in a post award!
 :handmoneyL: :handforkL: :handknifeR: :handmoneyR:

And to add fuel to your discussion with a good example may I mention the 3D file explorer on the Jurassic park computers :-*
Best visualization ever.

(Also I can feel that this discussion will segue into more logic related theories, not particularly related to computers, and I expect a few posts from I like cake)

The descriptions of cyberspace in Neuromancer were mental.  :noir:

I was definitely hoping for some sepia-toned-action in this thread!  :handthumbsupL: ;D

It's actually the first sci-fi book I've read in a very long time, and I'm really loving it.  I'll probably end up reading a lot of his other books next, and Neuromancer is the start of a trilogy too, right?  So I'll have to at least read through that.

You're talking about deriving less complex data from complex data as much as you're talking about visualization.

E.g:

Histograms are visualizing derived data. The data being visualized is easier to comprehend and less complex (and contain less information) than the original data. That makes it easier to understand (although there is less that can be understood given the derived data, because it contains less information). Visualizing it as a histogram might also be very helpful, but if you're dealing with a sequence of thousands of numbers, it's mostly the splitting it up into categories of intervals and counting frequencies that make the data easier to deal with.

I would definitely see use in a Windows's Task Manager replacement that was totally visual. I can never understand what is going on in it because things are getting updated every second, so now some process is hogging my CPU, the next it's another, and things are shifting around too fast. Even very basic visualizations of this information would be immensely useful to me.

Anyway, marginally related link: http://www.infosthetics.com/

edit: More related links:

http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/
http://benfry.com/projects/

Oh.

LavaPS (http://www.isi.edu/~johnh/SOFTWARE/LAVAPS/index.html)
Doom as an Interface for Process Management (http://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/chi/chi.html)

Wow, cool links!  It was totally worth creating this thread just for those!  :coffee:

Nice, this looks exactly like what I want..., except that it's for Linux.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/virus-the-game

Has anyone played that game ? The description says the levels are actually "your directory tree in a 3D environment" but I wonder if it really worked that way.

Hmm, this is likely to spawn some interesting games!  Maybe a compo? Using data to create games, and basic the games off that data?