Making the Unseen Visible

Abstract

Themes and examples examined in this chapter discuss the fast growing field of visualization. First, basic terms: data, information, knowledge, dimensions, and variables are discussed before going into the visualization issues. The next part of the text overviews some of the basics in visualization techniques: data-, information-, and knowledge-visualization, and tells about tools and techniques used in visualization such as data mining, clusters and biclustering, concept mapping, knowledge maps, network visualization, Web-search result visualization, open source intelligence, visualization of the Semantic Web, visual analytics, and tag cloud visualization. This is followed by some remarks on music visualization. The next part of the chapter is about the meaning and the role of visualization in various kinds of presentations. Discussion relates to concept visualization in visual learning, visualization in education, collaborative visualization, professions that employ visualization skills, and well-known examples of visualization that progress science. Comments on cultural heritage knowledge visualization conclude the chapter.