Animated Display of Quantitative Information

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the representation of quantitative information through animated displays, particularly using audio and video. Participants explore various forms of multimedia that can enhance the understanding of data beyond static visualizations, as inspired by Edward R. Tufte's work.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant highlights the limitations of traditional books in displaying dynamic quantitative information and invites others to share their favorite animated representations.
  • Another participant expresses appreciation for Tufte's book and acknowledges the coolness of a specific video mentioned.
  • A participant shares a nostalgic account of using early computer hardware for debugging, mentioning the creative use of EMI to produce sound, though this does not directly relate to animated displays.
  • One participant appreciates the coordination of music with visuals in a video and references a New York Times article that features videos of earthquake data, noting the challenge of sharing moving images.
  • This participant expresses intent to discuss the earthquake videos further in a dedicated Earth Sciences section.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the value of animated displays for conveying quantitative information, but there are differing views on specific examples and methods of sharing such content. The discussion remains open-ended with no consensus on particular approaches or sources.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express limitations in their ability to share or create animated content, which may affect the depth of the discussion. There are also references to specific historical contexts and technologies that may not be directly applicable to current multimedia practices.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in data visualization, multimedia presentations, and the intersection of technology and communication may find this discussion relevant.

anorlunda
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I'm sure that many PF members are fans of the seminal book
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward R. Tufte

But books on dead trees can only show static information. How about quanitative information depicted with the help of audio and/or video? I would like to nominate this video by Timo Bingmann, as my favorite. I invite PF members to post links to their own nominees.

By the way, I want to open this to any type of quantitative information, not just scientific, and not just computer generated. Therefore, GD is our only forum broad enough for that.

Rules:
  1. Credit the source.
  2. Quantitative information, animated by video and/or audio.
 
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anorlunda said:
I'm sure that many PF members are fans of the seminal book
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward R. Tufte
Yep. A place of honour on my bookshelf.

Very cool video.
 
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I no longer have the hardware to do it and this dates to circa 1975-76. Back then there were memory-mapped video displays for the S-100 machines (2MHz, 8080 CPU). We would set the Stack to the display memory as a last-resort to debug/trace a program. The other way was to insert Jump-to-self instructions in the code and then single-step from the front panel switches, not a very interesting video.

Occasionally we would put an AM radio tuned between stations next to the computer to collect clues. There was enough EMI emitted that you could even write programs to play a tune on the radio, "This Old Man" was a popular one. (well, I still have the hardware for that one, but not the incentive. :oldbiggrin:)
 
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Great idea for a thread.

I liked the music.
It was nicely coordinated with the visuals. Driven by visual (or computational) events?

This NY Times article (How Two Big Earthquakes Triggered 16,000 More in Southern California; By Derek Watkins, July 19, 2019) have a nice bunch of videos showing the location/size of earthquakes, during and after, the recent two big ones.
The earthquakes are shown on a map of the affected area, and there is a larger scale version for the whole state (but without showing the size-to-strength relationship).

If I knew how to copy the moving image (gif's?), I would try to post them.
All I could get is a screenshot, which doesn't show how this pattern develops over time.
Screen Shot 2019-07-20 at 11.59.44 PM.png


I'm going to post about this in the Earth Sciences section for geological type discussions.
 
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