Making Sense of Data III

Focuses on insights, approaches, and techniques that areessential to designing interactive graphics and visualizations
Making Sense of Data III: A Practical Guide to DesigningInteractive Data Visualizations explores a diverse range ofdisciplines to explain how meaning from graphical representationsis extracted. Additionally, the book describes the best approachfor designing and implementing interactive graphics andvisualizations that play a central role in data exploration anddecision-support systems.
Beginning with an introduction to visual perception, MakingSense of Data III features a brief history on the use ofvisualization in data exploration and an outline of the designprocess. Subsequent chapters explore the following key areas:
* Cognitive and Visual Systems describes how various drawings,maps, and diagrams known as external representations are understoodand used to extend the mind's capabilities
* Graphics Representations introduces semiotic theory anddiscusses the seminal work of cartographer Jacques Bertin and thegrammar of graphics as developed by Leland Wilkinson
* Designing Visual Interactions discusses the four stages ofdesign process--analysis, design, prototyping, andevaluation--and covers the important principles and strategiesfor designing visual interfaces, information visualizations, anddata graphics
* Hands-on: Creative Interactive Visualizations with Protovisprovides an in-depth explanation of the capabilities of theProtovis toolkit and leads readers through the creation of a seriesof visualizations and graphics
The final chapter includes step-by-step examples that illustratethe implementation of the discussed methods, and a series ofexercises are provided to assist in learning the Protovis language.A related website features the source code for the presentedsoftware as well as examples and solutions for selectexercises.
Featuring research in psychology, vision science, statistics,and interaction design, Making Sense of Data III is anindispensable book for courses on data analysis and data mining atthe upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. The book also servesas a valuable reference for computational statisticians, softwareengineers, researchers, and professionals of any discipline whowould like to understand how the mind processes graphicalrepresentations.