|
|
This research reinvents the traditional timeline as a dynamic, three-dimensional framework for the interactive presentation of historical information. An experimental visualization of the history of photography uses visual techniques such as infinite zoom, translucency, and animation to present a database of over 200 annotated photographs from the collection of the George Eastman House. Dynamic, interactive design solutions address the communicative goals of allowing seamless micro and macro readings of information at several levels of detail and from multiple points of view.
KEYWORDS: three-dimensional visualization, visual design, interaction design, cinema
Figure 1. Screen-capture from the visualization; here, the user is examining the individual timelines of some American photographers.
This research considers the form and function of the visual communication of historical information in computer-based media [7]. By reinventing the traditional two-dimensional timeline as a dynamic, three dimensional timespace, the designer can facilitate the user's ability to access, browse, and understand a database of historical information. This visualization of the history of photography presents a database of over 200 annotated photographs from the collection of the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. This database represents an overview of the history of photography from 1830 through 1950. This information is shown in its historical context of concurrent important events from social, technological, and political history.
Interactive design solutions address the communicative goals of allowing seamless micro and macro readings of the information at several levels of detail and from multiple points of view.
Previous work in information visualization has shown that by visualizing information and by allowing dynamic user interactivity, complex information spaces can be more easily explored and understood [2][4][8]. This work approaches three-dimensional information visualization by applying new visual techniques derived from traditional graphic design and cinema, such as infinite zoom [3][9], translucency [5], and animated visual transition [6], to an abstract three-dimensional virtual environment [1][9].
Upon first view, the user is presented with an overview of the information represented in the database. This overview spreads the available information out before her as a three-dimensional landscape of information through which she can travel to find the information she needs. Gray bars indicate the individual timelines of the photographers and are organized by their country and birthdate (Figure 1).
The user "flies" over the information until she comes to an area of interest. As she moves closer to the information, more and more detailed information appears about the lives and works of particular photographers. Visual techniques such as infinite zoom in conjunction with scale and dynamic transparency help the user to move among different levels of detail. An individual photograph respond to the user's interaction by sliding out and displaying itself with more detailed information.
Contextual information from political, technological, and cultural history hovers in the background, moving as the user moves in order to continuously reflect the dates that she is examining.
The system responds to a user query about portraiture by using selective transparency to highlight the portraits represented in the database. This technique allows the communication of different aspects of the information while maintaining a single stable visual structure. Animation is used to create smooth visual transitions when moving in a three-dimensional graphical environment. Visually continuous transitions help the user to maintain her orientation in complex information spaces by constantly providing a visual context. Another approach to user query is the use of framing and sequencing in the temporal presentation of selected graphical elements. This cinematic approach presents the user with a quick chronological montage of the portraits represented in the database.
Interactive design solutions in this work have addressed the communication goals of allowing seamless micro and macro readings of historical information at several levels of detail and from multiple points of view.
This research has shown that the design of a visual structure is vital to the successful communication of information in an abstract virtual space. The design of the visual structure must communicate the intrinsic structure of the information and also provide a framework which allows the interactive communication of overview, detail, and historical context. Furthermore, the designer of the visual structure must provide a feeling of stability given the dynamic nature of the environment. Useful approaches to designing a stable visual structure include defining an abstract virtual space with a physical sense of up and down, front and back; aligning important structural elements to an invisible three-dimensional grid; and using color to help indicate depth.
Figure 2. Scenes from the visualization. Left: as the user moves in closer to the individual timeline of Atget, more detailed information about his life becomes visible; as the user moves away, this information gradually becomes completely transparent. Middle and Right: this pair of screen captures show the same space from two different points of view.
This research has taken place at the Visible Language Workshop of the MIT Media Laboratory as part of my M.S. Thesis. I would like to acknowledge my colleagues at the Visible Language Workshop and the Media Lab for their inspiration, criticism, and support.
The George Eastman House kindly provided the photographic history database used in this visualization. Special thanks to Andrew Eskind for all his help.
This work has been supported in part by NYNEX and the News in the Future Consortium of the MIT Media Laboratory.
[1] Abrams, Janet. "Muriel Cooper's Visible Wisdom," I.D. September/October 1994.
[2] Ahlberg, Christopher, and Shneiderman, Ben. "Visual Information Seeking: Tight Coupling of Dynamic Query Filters with Starfield Displays." Proceedings of CHI'94. 1994.
[3] Bederson, Benjamin B. and James D. Hollan. "PA3D: A Multiscale Hierarchical Sketchpad." UIST'93. 1993.
[4] Card, S.K., Robertson, G.G., and Mackinlay, J.D. "The Information Visualizer: An Information Workspace." Proceedings of CHI'91. 1991.
[5] Colby, Grace, and Laura Scholl. "Transparency and Blur as Selective Cue for Complex Information." Proceedings of SPIE'92. 1992.
[6] Drucker, Steven M. Intelligent camera control for graphical environments. Ph.D. Thesis at the MIT Media Laboratory. 1994.
[7] Kullberg, Robin L. Dynamic Timelines: Visualizing Historical Information in Three Dimensions. M.S. Thesis at the MIT Media Laboratory. 1995.
[8] Robertson, G.G., Mackinlay, J.D. and Card, S.K. "Cone Trees: Animated 3D Visualizations of Hierarchical Information." Proceedings of CHI'91. 1991.
[9] Small, David, Suguru Ishizaki and Muriel Cooper. "Typographic Space." CHI '94 Companion. 1994.
<\BODY> <\HTML>