[Sigia-l] Information Visualization

[Karl Fast]

> Again, apps on SGI or Sun, among others, have had most of what one
> might need for a decade to visualize mountains of data. I am well
> aware of the technical barriers and have written about some of them
> here previously. Is this what's holding it back? I don't think so.


Good question. What is holding back visualization? 

This is not easy to answer, and I don't have a definite answer. But
I do have some thoughts that might add up to part of an answer:

 - HARDWARE LAG. Only in the last few years have the graphics
   capabalities of standard business PC's become powerful enough to
   support visualization applications. Gaming PC's have had that
   power longer, but most visualization apps have been targeted at
   business users and they're only getting the hardware power.

 - THE WEB. We've been kind of obsessed with this web thing for
   the last decade. Another interface paradigm shift has been too
   much for people to handle. Not just conceptually, but also in
   terms of willingness to invest in it.

 - EDUCATION. How many people enter the workforce with a solid
   understanding of visualization principles compared to, say,
   relational database principles? The road will remain rocky until
   information visualization become a core component of programs
   such as computer science, hci, design, information science and
   related disciplines (and Tufte is *not* an example of information
   visualization principles).

 - FEW STARTUPS. Pioneering companies like Inxight and Spotfire are
   the exception, not the rule. As the number of startups trying to
   bring these ideas to market increases, the chances of market
   success should also increase (unless the whole thing is a dumb
   idea). 

Those are my thoughts. An incomplete list to be sure, and a list
that an eager beaver could take pleasure in dismantling, but it's a
start.

I got work to do.

--karl