Hugh Bollinger / Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Data visualized

Once upon a time, research seminars consisted of a group of graduate students sitting around a conference room table, sharing a couple of beers, putting Kodachromes in the carrousel slide projector, and discussing data on a white board. It was interactive on a conversational level. Even though meetings of researchers still take place everywhere, those antique approaches to data visualization and discussion are long gone. Today, powerful new tools including notebook computers, digital media tablets, international Skype calls, and supercomputers to allow visualizing data sets are replacing all this. The benefits are powerful, significant, and accelerating. Recently, the science pages at the New York Times discussed all this change in a fascinating article about data visualization and a new exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences. Quoting the Times: "The planetarium show is a visually spectacular demonstration of the way computer power is transforming the sciences, giving scientists tools as important to current research as the microscope and telescope were to earlier scientists." [caption id="attachment_4030" align="aligncenter" width="650" caption="data visualizations source: New York Times"]

[/caption] All this data visualization is a wonderful thing and will offer insights into natural processes and their fundamental mechanisms that we could only dream about in earlier days. However, I still miss the Kodachromes. WHB

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Tags: New York Times California Academy of Sciences data representation data visualization Kodachrome scientific research

Data visualized

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