Using Data Visualisation to tell Stories about Collections

The paper explores visualisation of “big data” from digitised museum collections and archives, focusing on the relationship between data, visualisation and narrative. A contrast is presented between visualisations that show “just the data” and those that present the information in such a way as to tell a story using visual rhetorical devices; such devices have historically included trees, streams, chains, geometric shapes and other forms. The contrast is explored through historical examples and a survey of current practice. A discussion centred on visualising datasets from the British Library, Science Museum and Wellcome Library is used to outline key research questions.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Stephen Boyd Davis

Olivia Vane

Florian Kräutli

Conference

Publication date: July 2016

Publication date (Print): July 2016

Pages: 221-228

Affiliations

[0001]Royal College of Art

London, SW7 2EU

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVA2016.44

SO-VID: 6558c26a-093d-4e03-8e09-190a22864559

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

Conference acronym: EVA

Conference number:

Conference location: London, UK

Conference date: 12 - 14 July 2016

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVA2016.44

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

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J. AlexanderJ. BartonC. Goeser 2013 Transforming the Art Museum Experience: Gallery One ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://mw2013.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/transforming-the-art-museum-experience-gallery-one-2/">http://mw2013.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/transforming-the-art-museum-experience-gallery-one-2/ 15 March 2016
Apple Computer 1992 The Virtual Museum (CD-ROM) Apple Computer Cupertino, CA
C. BeardonS. Worden 1997 The Virtual Curator: multimedia technologies and the roles of museums E. BarrettM. Redmond Contextual Media: Multimedia and Interpretation. MIT Press Cambridge, MA 63 86
S. Boyd Davis 2012 History on the Line: time as dimension Design Issues 28 4 4 17
S. Boyd Davis 2015a Beholder of All Ages: The History of the World in a French Mappemonde Textimage 7 1 ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://revue-textimage.com/11_illustration_science/boyd-davis1.html">http://revue-textimage.com/11_illustration_science/boyd-davis1.html 26 February 2016
S. Boyd Davis 2015b May not duration be represented as distinctly as space? - geography and the visualisation of time in the early eighteenth century Knowing Nature in Early Modern Europe. Pickering & Chatto London 119 137
S. Boyd Davis 2016 Time Machines J. Pilcher Culture, Technology and the Image. Intellect, Bristol
S Boyd DavisF. Kräutli 2015 The Idea and Image of Historical Time: Interactions between Design and Digital Humanities Visible Language 49 3 100 119
S. Boyd DavisE. BevanA. Kudikov 2013 Just In Time: defining historical chronographics J.P. BowenS. KeeneK. Ng Electronic Visualisation in Arts and Culture. Springer, London 243 257
P. Corfield 2007 Time and the Shape of History. Yale New Haven
J. DruckerB. P. Nowviskie 2003 Temporal modelling: Conceptualization and visualization of temporal relations for humanities scholarship Proc. AcH/ALLC 2003. Assoc. Computers and the Humanities and Assoc. Literary and Linguistic Computing Athens, Georgia 29 May 2 June 2003 26 28
J. HullmanN. Diakopoulos 2011 Visualization rhetoric: Framing effects in narrative visualization Visualization and Computer Graphics, IEEE Transactions on 17 12 2231 2240
J. HullmanS. DruckerN. H. RicheB. LeeD. FisherE. Adar 2013 A deeper understanding of sequence in narrative visualization Visualization and Computer Graphics, IEEE Transactions on 19 12 2406 2415
N. KaplanS. Moulthrop 1991 Something to Imagine: Literature, Composition, and Interactive Fiction Computers and Composition 9 1 7 23
F. KräutliS. Boyd Davis 2013 Known Unknowns: representing uncertainty in historical time Proc. Electronic Visualisation and the Arts 2013. British Computer Society London 61 68
B. P. NowviskieD. McClureW. GrahamE. RochesterJ. Boggs 2012 Neatline ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://neatline.org/">http://neatline.org/ 14 March 2016
B. NowviskieD. McClureW. GrahamA. SorokaJ. BoggsE. Rochester 2013 GeoTemporal Interpretation of Archival Collections with Neatline Literary & Linguistic Computing 28 4 692 699
T. OrenG. SalomonK. KreitmanA. Don 1990 Guides: characterizing the interface B. Laurel The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design. Addison-Wesley Reading, MA 367 381
J. Priestley 1764 A Description of a Chart of Biography Warrington
J. Priestley 1765 A Chart of Biography. Johnson London
D. Rosenberg 2007 Joseph Priestley and the Graphic Invention of Modern Time Studies in Eighteenth Century Culture 36 1 55 103
D. RosenbergA. T. Grafton 2010 Cartographies of Time: a History of the Timeline. Princeton Architectural Press New York
Schulten 2007 Emma Willard and the Graphic Foundations of American History Journal of Historical Geography 33 3 542 564
E. SegelJ. Heer 2010 Narrative visualization: Telling stories with data Visualization and Computer Graphics, IEEE Transactions on 16 6 1139 1148
M. B. Stogner 2011 The Immersive Cultural Museum Experience: creating context and story with new media technology International Journal of the Inclusive Museum 3 3 117 130
W.H. Strass 1849 Stream of Time, or Chart of Universal History Smith London
E. TufteE. Weise 1997 Visual explanations: images and quantities, evidence and narrative. Cheshire, CT Graphics Press 91
M. Twyman 1986 Articulating Graphic Language: a historical perspective M. E. WrolstadD. Fisher Towards a New Understanding of Literacy Praeger New York 188 251
E. Willard 1836a Picture of Nations or perspective sketch of the course of empire Atlas to accompany a System of Universal History Huntington Hartford, CO
E. Willard 1836b The Progressive Geography of the World in a Series of Maps. In: Atlas to accompany a System of Universal History Huntington Hartford, CO
E. Willard 1844 Chronological Plan of the History of the United States History of the United States or Republic of America Barnes Philadelphia
E. Willard 1846 Willard’s Temple of Time. Barnes & Co. New York
E. Willard 1849 Willard’s Historic Guide. Guide to the Temple of time; and Universal History for Schools. Barnes & Co. New York
A. Wong 2015 The whole story, and then some: ‘digital storytelling’ in evolving museum practice ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://mw2015.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/the-whole-story-and-then-some-digital-storytelling-in-evolving-museum-practice/">http://mw2015.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/the-whole-story-and-then-some-digital-storytelling-in-evolving-museum-practice/ 14 March 2016

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] S. C. Adams 1871 Chronological Chart of Ancient, Modern and Biblical History. Strobridge & Company Cincinnati, OH

[2] J. AlexanderJ. BartonC. Goeser 2013 Transforming the Art Museum Experience: Gallery One ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://mw2013.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/transforming-the-art-museum-experience-gallery-one-2/">http://mw2013.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/transforming-the-art-museum-experience-gallery-one-2/ 15 March 2016

[3] Apple Computer 1992 The Virtual Museum (CD-ROM) Apple Computer Cupertino, CA

[4] C. BeardonS. Worden 1997 The Virtual Curator: multimedia technologies and the roles of museums E. BarrettM. Redmond Contextual Media: Multimedia and Interpretation. MIT Press Cambridge, MA 63 86

[5] S. Boyd Davis 2012 History on the Line: time as dimension Design Issues 28 4 4 17

[6] S. Boyd Davis 2015a Beholder of All Ages: The History of the World in a French Mappemonde Textimage 7 1 ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://revue-textimage.com/11_illustration_science/boyd-davis1.html">http://revue-textimage.com/11_illustration_science/boyd-davis1.html 26 February 2016

[7] S. Boyd Davis 2015b May not duration be represented as distinctly as space? - geography and the visualisation of time in the early eighteenth century Knowing Nature in Early Modern Europe. Pickering & Chatto London 119 137

[8] S. Boyd Davis 2016 Time Machines J. Pilcher Culture, Technology and the Image. Intellect, Bristol

[9] S Boyd DavisF. Kräutli 2015 The Idea and Image of Historical Time: Interactions between Design and Digital Humanities Visible Language 49 3 100 119

[10] S. Boyd DavisE. BevanA. Kudikov 2013 Just In Time: defining historical chronographics J.P. BowenS. KeeneK. Ng Electronic Visualisation in Arts and Culture. Springer, London 243 257

[11] P. Corfield 2007 Time and the Shape of History. Yale New Haven

[12] J. DruckerB. P. Nowviskie 2003 Temporal modelling: Conceptualization and visualization of temporal relations for humanities scholarship Proc. AcH/ALLC 2003. Assoc. Computers and the Humanities and Assoc. Literary and Linguistic Computing Athens, Georgia 29 May 2 June 2003 26 28

[13] J. HullmanN. Diakopoulos 2011 Visualization rhetoric: Framing effects in narrative visualization Visualization and Computer Graphics, IEEE Transactions on 17 12 2231 2240

[14] J. HullmanS. DruckerN. H. RicheB. LeeD. FisherE. Adar 2013 A deeper understanding of sequence in narrative visualization Visualization and Computer Graphics, IEEE Transactions on 19 12 2406 2415

[15] N. KaplanS. Moulthrop 1991 Something to Imagine: Literature, Composition, and Interactive Fiction Computers and Composition 9 1 7 23

[16] F. KräutliS. Boyd Davis 2013 Known Unknowns: representing uncertainty in historical time Proc. Electronic Visualisation and the Arts 2013. British Computer Society London 61 68

[17] B. P. NowviskieD. McClureW. GrahamE. RochesterJ. Boggs 2012 Neatline ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://neatline.org/">http://neatline.org/ 14 March 2016

[18] B. NowviskieD. McClureW. GrahamA. SorokaJ. BoggsE. Rochester 2013 GeoTemporal Interpretation of Archival Collections with Neatline Literary & Linguistic Computing 28 4 692 699

[19] T. OrenG. SalomonK. KreitmanA. Don 1990 Guides: characterizing the interface B. Laurel The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design. Addison-Wesley Reading, MA 367 381

[20] J. Priestley 1764 A Description of a Chart of Biography Warrington

[21] J. Priestley 1765 A Chart of Biography. Johnson London

[22] D. Rosenberg 2007 Joseph Priestley and the Graphic Invention of Modern Time Studies in Eighteenth Century Culture 36 1 55 103

[23] D. RosenbergA. T. Grafton 2010 Cartographies of Time: a History of the Timeline. Princeton Architectural Press New York

[24] Schulten 2007 Emma Willard and the Graphic Foundations of American History Journal of Historical Geography 33 3 542 564

[25] E. SegelJ. Heer 2010 Narrative visualization: Telling stories with data Visualization and Computer Graphics, IEEE Transactions on 16 6 1139 1148

[26] M. B. Stogner 2011 The Immersive Cultural Museum Experience: creating context and story with new media technology International Journal of the Inclusive Museum 3 3 117 130

[27] W.H. Strass 1849 Stream of Time, or Chart of Universal History Smith London

[28] E. TufteE. Weise 1997 Visual explanations: images and quantities, evidence and narrative. Cheshire, CT Graphics Press 91

[29] M. Twyman 1986 Articulating Graphic Language: a historical perspective M. E. WrolstadD. Fisher Towards a New Understanding of Literacy Praeger New York 188 251

[30] E. Willard 1836a Picture of Nations or perspective sketch of the course of empire Atlas to accompany a System of Universal History Huntington Hartford, CO

[31] E. Willard 1836b The Progressive Geography of the World in a Series of Maps. In: Atlas to accompany a System of Universal History Huntington Hartford, CO

[32] E. Willard 1844 Chronological Plan of the History of the United States History of the United States or Republic of America Barnes Philadelphia

[33] E. Willard 1846 Willard’s Temple of Time. Barnes & Co. New York

[34] E. Willard 1849 Willard’s Historic Guide. Guide to the Temple of time; and Universal History for Schools. Barnes & Co. New York

[35] A. Wong 2015 The whole story, and then some: ‘digital storytelling’ in evolving museum practice ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://mw2015.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/the-whole-story-and-then-some-digital-storytelling-in-evolving-museum-practice/">http://mw2015.museumsandtheweb.com/paper/the-whole-story-and-then-some-digital-storytelling-in-evolving-museum-practice/ 14 March 2016

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