Em 20 ANOS poderemos transportar num portátil 10 VEZES O CONTEÚDO DA MAIOR BIBLIOTECA DO MUNDO.
Pelo seu trabalho, por esta referência e sobretudo, pela simpatia e simplicidade demonstrada ao longo deste tempo em que trocámos informações, aqui vai o meu reconhecimento.
For the first time in Ente][vistas, I'm making an introduction to the interview I made to Manuel Lima. I don't know him personally, only through an exchange of some e-mails. I just want to mention the fact that Manuel has recently been nominated by Creativity magazine as one of the 50 most creative and influential minds for 2009.
Due to his work, to this nomination and, above all, for his simpathy and simplicity shown during our information exchange, here is my recognition.
For the first time in Ente][vistas, I'm making an introduction to the interview I made to Manuel Lima. I don't know him personally, only through an exchange of some e-mails. I just want to mention the fact that Manuel has recently been nominated by Creativity magazine as one of the 50 most creative and influential minds for 2009.
Due to his work, to this nomination and, above all, for his simpathy and simplicity shown during our information exchange, here is my recognition.
Scroll down to read this interview in English
01. Defines-te profissionalmente como um "interaction designer", "information architect", "design researcher", termos até dificilmente traduzidos para a língua portuguesa. Como explicarias a tua actividade para qualquer possível leitor desta entrevista?
Sou um Designer, no seu aspecto mais generalista de criação de soluções para um dado problema. Mas cada problema exige uma resposta adequada que requer um conhecimento específico e um conjunto de ferramentas próprias. Isso explica a proliferação de sub-disciplinas no âmbito do design, que surgiram em parte pela pressão de um determinado domínio. É o caso de Interaction Design, que sofreu a tensão de uma crescente complexidade e omnipresença de sistemas tecnológicos, ou da área de Information Architecture, que adveio para fazer face a um aumento substancial no volume de informação. Este processo é aliás comum a um sem-número de práticas profissionais.
Interaction Designer define o trabalho que desenvolvo a tempo inteiro para a Nokia, e no fundo a área de design com a qual mais me identifico actualmente. Num sentido abrangente, Interaction Design é a disciplina responsável pela definição de comportamentos de um produto ou sistema, com o qual o utilizador pode interagir. Esta prática está normalmente associada a sistemas de software, telemóveis, e outros aparelhos electrónicos. Design Researcher descreve o tipo de trabalho de investigação que faço no âmbito da Visualização de Informação, em particular na Visualização de Redes. Information Architect é uma denominação que poderia eventualmente ser retirada, por estar inerente à actividade de um Interaction Designer, contudo torna explícito um conhecimento particular nesta área.
Interaction Designer define o trabalho que desenvolvo a tempo inteiro para a Nokia, e no fundo a área de design com a qual mais me identifico actualmente. Num sentido abrangente, Interaction Design é a disciplina responsável pela definição de comportamentos de um produto ou sistema, com o qual o utilizador pode interagir. Esta prática está normalmente associada a sistemas de software, telemóveis, e outros aparelhos electrónicos. Design Researcher descreve o tipo de trabalho de investigação que faço no âmbito da Visualização de Informação, em particular na Visualização de Redes. Information Architect é uma denominação que poderia eventualmente ser retirada, por estar inerente à actividade de um Interaction Designer, contudo torna explícito um conhecimento particular nesta área.
02. O teu projecto mais conhecido actualmente é o Visual Complexity. Em que consiste este estudo? Como nasceu a ideia?
VisualComplexity.com (VC) é uma compilação de mais de 600 projectos de visualização de redes complexas, em áreas distintas como a Biologia, Redes Sociais, Internet, Transportes e World Wide Web. O principal objectivo é o aprofundamento do conhecimento nesta área e uma cultura crítica do modo de representação de diversas topologias de sistemas complexos que circundam o nosso espaço diariamente. O resultado deste esforço disperso de visualização assemelha-se de certo modo ao léxico de uma nova linguagem. O intuito do meu trabalho de investigação é tentar compreender ou interpretar este novo léxico da maneira mais apropriada, dando a conhecer para o público em geral este fascinante domínio.
O interesse pela representação de redes começou aquando do meu programa de mestrado (MFA) na Parsons School of Design. O objectivo principal da minha tese (www.blogviz.com) foi construir um modelo de visualização que permitisse analisar a propagação dos artigos noticiosos mais populares no seio da blogosfera - o modo como estes se transmitem e evolvem ao longo do tempo.
Para melhor entender como a difusão de informação se comporta neste ambiente, tive de investigar a própria estrutura da World Wide Web, ou seja a vasta redes de websites e conexões entre eles partilhadas, assim como a estrutura física de milhares de servidores interligados que compõem a Internet. Comecei por reunir vários projectos que tentavam dar forma, ou visualizar, muitos destes universos intrincados e desconhecidos, e a partir daí comecei por explorar outros tipos de redes, como redes de energia, transportes, sociais, celulares, entre muitas outras. À medida que encontrava paralelismos interessantes entre redes tão variadas, tornava-me cada vez mais interessado na matéria.
Mais tarde tive oportunidade de consolidar esta pesquisa como professor assistente da disciplina de Information Architecture, do programa de mestrado em que estava inserido, e como investigador no Parsons Institute for Information Mapping (PIIM). Parte desta investigação originou o núcleo inicial do projecto VisualComplexity.com, iniciado em Outubro de 2005, cinco meses depois da conclusão da minha tese.
03. De todos os casos que tens estudado ao longo do tempo, peço-te que nomeies um que te tenha marcado particularmente e a razão para tal ter acontecido.
Terá sido provavelmente um projecto em grupo que realizei aquando do meu programa de mestrado (MFA) na Parsons School of Design. O objectivo era encontrar algum paralelismo, através de uma série de visualizações, entre a disseminação global de um vírus informático e de um vírus biológico, respectivamente MyDoom.A e SARS (na altura os casos mais mediáticos). À partida fazia sentido que houvesse alguma relação, pois ambos os vírus estão dependentes de vastas redes de hospedeiros (elementos contaminados) – servidores da Internet e seres humanos – responsáveis pela sua dispersão. A analogia torna-se ainda mais relevante se considerarmos a predominância de nós centrais de propagação nestes universos interligados – mega-servidores e aeroportos internacionais – geralmente situados em grandes centros urbanos.
Contudo, e esta foi uma lição fulcral que retirei deste exercício, nem sempre é possível validarmos as nossas suposições iniciais sobre determinado sistema. E embora vários factores apontassem para uma possível analogia, não foi possível demonstrar qualquer tipo de relação ente os padrões de difusão de ambos os vírus. O importante no fundo é começar com uma pergunta que nos leve a indagar. E é neste âmbito que a Visualização de Informação se torna fulcral, ao expor aspectos e variáveis do problema que permaneciam desconhecidos ou perdidos em longas tabelas de dados.
04. Traduzir a complexidade duma estrutura numa imagem diagramática tem sido um método de exposição utilizado desde sempre. Da Genética à Arquitectura, de análises dedutivas a pensamentos especulativos… Que significado recebe esta forma de transmissão do conhecimento num mundo cada vez mais interligado?
Desde muito cedo o ser humano esteve envolvido em algum tipo de representação visual de informação. Exemplos como as pinturas rupestres, os cuneiformes Sumérios, ou os inúmeros mapas cartográficos criados ao longo de séculos, explicam por si só que este não é um processo recente, ou exclusivamente contemporâneo. Contudo, esta contemporaneidade apresenta sintomas muito particulares, que levam ao aparecimento de uma disciplina independente denominada Visualização de Informação. Para além de outras influências menores, existem 2 factores fundamentais para este surgimento: Complexidade Organizada e Volume de Informação.
Em 1948, o cientista americano Warren Weaver dividiu a ciência moderna em três etapas distintas: (1) Problemas de Simplicidade – referindo-se sobretudo à revolução científica, entre os séculos 17 e 19, que se prendia maioritariamente com a percepção de variáveis; (2) Problemas de Complexidade Desorganizada – grande parte do século 20, em que se assumia a presença de sistemas com inúmeras variáveis, mas cujos comportamentos e ligações entre si eram desconhecidas, e por isso julgados aleatórias ou mesmo caóticas; (3) Problemas de Complexidade Organizada – devido a uma alteração de mentalidade que será decisiva no século 21, com vista à compreensão de diversos sistemas complexos e altamente interligados que abundam o nosso quotidiano. Tal como em muitas outras áreas, o principal desafio das redes complexas não reside no descoberta de novas redes mas numa exploração compreensiva das já existentes. Este é um problema comum a inúmeras áreas de intervenção, como a Física, Genética, Biologia, Sociologia, Engenharia, entre muitas outras, que tentam tirar partido de um crescente conjunto de ferramentas de visualização, com vista a uma melhor compreensão de componentes e comportamentos do sistema analisado.
O segundo aspecto fundamental para a emergência da área de Visualização de Informação diz respeito a um aumento substancial do volume de informação. De acordo com a Lei de Kryder, a capacidade de armazenamento de dados tem vindo a duplicar a cada 18 meses (aparte de um recente abrandamento). Alguns cálculos indicam que nos próximos 20 anos um computador comum atingirá cerca de 1 Petabyte (1.000.000 Gigabytes) de capacidade de armazenamento. Isto poderá não dizer muito para algumas pessoas, mas se pensarmos no que isto acarreta – podermos transportar num simples portátil 10 vezes o conteúdo da maior biblioteca do mundo, ou todas as músicas alguma vez criadas no nosso leitor de música – então percebemos o desafio que teremos de enfrentar num futuro próximo, no que diz respeito ao acesso e processamento de um vasto volume de informação. Dados congruentes não são um bem adquirido. Precisamos cada vez mais de munir-nos de ferramentas e aplicações que nos permitam filtrar e organizar eficazmente estes dados, de modo a transformá-los em informação útil e relevante, e por último, em conhecimento e saber. Visualização de Informação e Design de Informação são algumas das disciplinas que nos poderão ajudar a atingir esse objectivo.
05. Vivemos num mundo em que a imagem fala cada vez mais alto, sendo que o mundo imagético, cada vez mais rico, é uma das marcas da geração da informação. Em Arquitectura, e acredito que noutras actividades também, o percurso é feito em busca de imagens bonitas, mais até do que um conteúdo. Como pode a visualização ajudar ao acto criativo sem se sobrepor a ele?
Eu julgo que cada vez mais as pessoas estão a entrar nesta área pelas razões erradas – com o único intuito de criar representações vãs de complexidade que se assemelham a peças de arte digital. Existe um enorme mercado para este tipo de iniciativa, o que em parte explica o sucesso recente da arte generativa, contudo é necessário apontar as principais diferenças entre estes campos.
Qualquer projecto de Visualização de Informação (que inclui Visualização de Redes) deve ser funcional, no sentido de promover um melhor entendimento do tema ou sistema representado. Alguns destes projectos poderão também revelar uma qualidade estética impressionante, que poderá inclusive ser considerada arte, mas esta qualidade “artística” deverá ocorrer como consequência, nunca como o objectivo central da execução. Fico fascinado com este tipo de ocorrência, mas temos de ter alguma cautela em não glorificar em demasia este resultado. Apropriando-me das palavras do designer holandês Wim Crouwel diria que “sou um funcionalista perturbado pela estética”.
O tipo de “infoporn” que muitas pessoas referem hoje em dia pode facilmente conduzir a uma fixação pela beleza superficial em substituição da função informativa. Isto é um grave problema. Actualmente é relativamente fácil, para alguém com conhecimentos em linguagem de programação, criar uma visualização extremamente rica e deslumbrante. Mas este não pode ser o único aspecto a ser avaliado. O principal objectivo da Visualização de Informação é facilitar a compreensão. Deste modo, se um projecto não atingir este propósito, só pode ser considerado um insucesso.
06. Matt Woolman, que citas no teu site, afirma que uma visualização diagramática coerente requere uma linguagem visual que se serve de inúmeros factores para se fazer entender, como a cor, a forma, ou a composição. Como avalias a eficiência de uma rede?
A Visualização de Informação, por ser uma disciplina muito recente, depara-se com uma forte componente prática, mas ao mesmo tempo possui uma enorme lacuna no que diz respeito a uma fundação teórica sustentada. No fundo, a este novo idioma falta-lhe uma sintaxe apropriada, que possa criar um conjunto de regras e princípios para a construção de determinados modelos de visualização. Como refere Chaomei Chen, uma figura influente neste campo, “é necessária a concepção de uma taxonomia da Visualização de Informação, de modo a que os designers possam seleccionar as técnicas apropriadas para determinados objectivos”.
Mas essencial neste processo é a criação de técnicas interactivas que possam diminuir a sobrecarga cognitiva e simplificar a complexidade. E embora não existam actualmente as ferramentas necessárias para podermos proceder a uma avaliação séria da eficiência de determinado projecto, pode dizer-se que no que diz respeito à Visualização de Redes, a interactividade é vital.
07.Um dos projectos que mais me chamou a atenção foi o Net-map, uma ferramenta de ajuda a entrevistas ou consultas públicas e que no fundo ajuda os intervenientes a visualizarem a própria discussão. Os actores vêem-se de repente inter-relacionados, em termos de representatividade, subordinação, ou grau de influência. Este é um dos muitos casos em que a representação diagramática pode de facto ajudar à compreensão de casos reais. Como poderia a Política, em sentido lato, introduzir estes e outros métodos na nossa cultura social? Porque não o fazem já?
Já existem muitos campos de estudo que incorporam técnicas avançadas de visualização de redes na sua actividade. Um das áreas de destaque é a denominada Social Network Analysis (SNA), uma sub-disciplina da Sociologia moderna, que tenta promover a importância de interacções sociais em inúmeras comunidades. Embora a maioria dos trabalhos neste âmbito tenham uma grande componente académica, penso que a longo prazo estes deverão contagiar lentamente a nossa cultura social. Os principais intervenientes neste processo serão inequivocamente os órgãos de comunicação social, que através de ferramentas de visualização de redes poderão explorar inter-relações entre instituições e indivíduos, e demonstrar certos padrões desconhecidos. Existem vários projectos de intervenção social, tais como They Rule (http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/project.cfm?id=22) ou Exxon Secrets (http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/project.cfm?id=207), que tentam por exemplo encontrar ligações duvidosas ou pérfidas entre várias empresas e organizações norte-americanas. Uma forte tendência patente em VisualComplexity.com é ainda a visualização de redes de influência politica (ligações partidárias de blogues influentes, mapas de doações a candidatos, ou conexões entre livros de teor político) que podem vir a ajudar na explicação de determinados fenómenos e resultados eleitorais. (http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/index.cfm?domain=Political%20Networks).
08. A internet veio incrementar o aparecimento de inúmeras redes sociais, como o Messenger, o Facebook, o Second Life ou o Twitter. Podemos hoje falar diariamente com a nossa rede de amigos sem nunca os ver. Mas será isso possível, isto é, conseguirá o Homem transpor-se progressivamente para um mundo virtual?
Se explorarmos a sintaxe dos termos que definiram as principais aparelhos de comunicação, antes do surgimento da Internet, tais como o telégrafo, o telegrama, ou o telefone, podemos notar a constante presença do prefixo tele-. Tele é uma palavra grega que significa “a uma distância”, significando usualmente “estar distante” ou “à distância”. O primeiro uso do prefixo tele- foi na palavra telescópio, que foi adaptada do termo italiano de Galileu telescopi, sendo posteriormente também empregue na palavra telégrafo, que significa “escrever à distância”. Assim sendo, o vasto campo das telecomunicações abrange um vasto número de sistemas que têm o intuito de comunicar “à distância”. Aqui pode notar-se a importância da localização geográfica, como elemento intransponível, que deve ser ultrapassado.
O que é particularmente interessante nesta análise é a constatação de que esta nomenclatura foi notoriamente abandonada pelas sucessivas inovações associadas à Internet. Em e-mail, e-commerce, ou e-business, podemos notar a substituição do prefixo tele- pelo prefixo e-, usualmente associado à mais recente revolução tecnológica e uma abreviação da palavra electrónica. Com o advento da Internet e de inúmeras redes sociais online, a geografia, como critério fundamental na criação de grupos sociais, foi completamente posta de parte. Sendo que o ser humano já não está geograficamente limitado à criação de laços inter-pessoais, o número extraordinário de pessoas com quem pode manter contacto directo durante a sua vivência é deveras impressionante, algo que com certeza perturbaria qualquer antepassado.
Vários investigadores afirmam que a nossa inteligência não se desenvolveu por influências exteriores que deram origem à criação de novas tecnologias, mas sim para fazer face a comunidades sociais crescentemente complexas e organizadas por sistemas hierarquizados. Em 1992, Robin Dunbar elaborou um estudo em que foi proposto uma correlação entre o tamanho do neocórtex e do grupo social de vários primatas. Deste mesmo estudo emergiu o denominado “Número de Dunbar” que coloca em 150 o número de máximo indivíduos que uma comunidade pode sustentar, de modo a manter uma relação coesa e duradoura entre os seus elementos. Estou convencido que muitas destas ferramentas online, e outras futuras iterações, irão causar uma pressão substancial na nossa capacidade cognitiva de gerir um crescente número de contactos, eventualmente forçando o “Número de Dunbar” para outras dimensões. O que isso poderá significar no que concerne a comportamentos humanos, remete-nos exclusivamente para o campo das conjecturas.
09. Algum conselho que queiras deixar à crescente comunidade social virtual?
--
10. Onde te imaginas daqui a 10 anos?
É muito difícil imaginar a minha vida, a minha carreira, ou mesmo o resultado de projectos individuais, a uma distância temporal tão alargada. Mas gostaria de fazer mais investigação e escrever, que é algo que adoro.
...................................................................................................
In 20 YEARS we can have 10 TIMES THE INFORMATION OF THE BIGGEST LIBRARY IN THE WORLD, on our laptop.
English
01. You define yourself as an "interaction designer", as an "information architect" and as a "design researcher". How would you explain what you do to anyone who might come across this interview?
I’m a Designer, in what concerns the notion of creating solutions for a given situation. But each situation requires an adequate response which depends on specific knowledge and an appropriate toolset. This would explain the vast array of subjects under the umbrella of Design, which were born, to a certain extent, to meet the needs of specific areas of expertise. Such is the case of Interaction Design, which has suffered the tension of a growing complexity and the omnipresence of technological systems, or of Information Architecture, that was the offspring of a need to cope with a substantial increase in the volume of information. This process is shared by an infinity of professional activities.
Interaction Designer defines my full-time job for Nokia, and also the area of design to which I most currently relate. On a broader perception, I would say that Interaction Design is the subject responsible for the definition of the behaviours a product or a system, with which a user may interact, may adopt. It is usually linked to software systems, cell phones and other electronic devices. Design Researcher describes the research I develop as to what concers Information Visualization, particularly in Network Visualization. Information Architect is a title which may be considered as unnecessary, as it is a part of an Interaction Designer’s job, though it reflects a particular field of knowledge within this particular subject.
02. Your better known project is Visual Complexity. What is it about and how did you come by the idea?
VisualComplexity.com (VC) is a compilation of over 600 complex network visualization projects, which operates upon distinct areas of expertise such as Biology, Social Networks, the Internet, Transport and the World Wide Web. The main goal is to achieve a more profound knowledge in what concerns this subject and a critical culture of the way various complex systems which surround our daily space are represented. The result of this disperse visualization effort resembles, in a way, the lexicality of a new language. The intent of my research work is to try to understand or interpret this new lexicality in the most appropriate manner, making it possible for the public to get to know this fascinating subject.
My interest for network representation started while I was on my MFA programme at Parsons School of Design. The main goal of my thesis (www.blogviz.com) was to build a visualization model that would allow for the analysis of the spreading of popular news articles throughout the world of blogging – the way they transmit themselves and evolve through time.
In order to achieve a better understanding of the way the spreading of information behaves in this environment, I had to learn how the World Wide Web organizes itself, in terms of its vast network of websites and connections between them, and in physical terms, as to what concerns the thousands of connected servers that piece the Internet together. I started by assembling various projects that attempted to turn these complex and unknown universes into something tangible, and from there I started exploring other types of networks, such as power grids, transit systems, social networks, cellular networks, among many others. As I established intriguing relationships between such differing networks I became increasingly interested in the subject itself.
I later had the opportunity to consolidate this research work as deputy professor of Information Architecture, in the MFA programme I was in, and as researcher at the Parsons Institute for Information Mapping (PIIM). Part of this investigative work gave birth to the core team of the VisualComplexity.com project, started on October 2005, five years after my thesis’s conclusion.
03. Of all the cases you’ve studied, I’d like to ask you to point out one that may have had particular significance to you and the reason why.
It quite probably was a group project I developed while I was on my MFA programme, at Parsons School of Design. The idea was to find the connection between a computer virus and a biological virus, MyDoom.A and SARS, respectively (these were the most publicized cases at the time). At first, it seemed a connection between these viruses was plausible, since both depend on vast networks of hosts (contaminated elements) – Internet servers and human beings – responsible for their propagation. This relationship becomes increasingly relevant if the presence of central propagation nodes within these intertwined universes is taken into account – mega-servers and international airports – generally situated on great urban centres.
Still, and this was an imperative lesson I learnt from this exercise, it is not always possible to validate our initial perspectives about any given system. And in spite of there being a series of factors that pointed to a possible connection, it wasn’t possible to demonstrate any kind of relationship between the patterns of diffusion of both viruses. What is actually important is to start by coming up with a question that leads us to investigation. And it is in this area that Information Visualisation becomes mandatory as a means of exposing aspects and variables of a given problem, that were lost or unknown in long data tables.
04. Translating the complexity of a certain structure into a diagrammatic image has been an ever-present method. From Genetics to Architecture, from deductive analysis to speculative thought… What meaning has this form of transmission come to gain in an increasingly interconnected world?
The human being has been forever involved in some sort of visual representation of information. Examples such as rock paintings, Sumerian cuneiform, or the numerous cartographical maps created throughout time, tell us that this is neither a recent nor contemporary process. Still, modernity presents very particular symptoms that lead to the birth of an independent subject called Information Visualization. There are 2 key factors that contributed to this birth: Organized Complexity and Information Volume.
In 1948, American scientist Warren Weaver divided modern science in three distinct stages: (1) Simplicity Issues – referring mostly to scientific revolution, between the 17th and 19th centuries, which was mainly tied to variable perception; (2) Disorganized Complexity Issues – a large part of the 20th century, in which the presence of systems with numerous variables was acknowledged, but whose behaviour and interconnections were unknown, thus being judged as random or even chaotic; (3) Organized Complexity Issues – due to a decisive change in the 21st century’s way of thinking, that contemplates the understanding of a number of complex and highly interconnected systems which are abundant in our daily lives. Just as in many other areas, the main challenge posed by complex networks is not based on the discovery of new networks, but on a comprehensive exploration of existing ones. This problem is common to numerous subjects, such as Physics, Genetics, Biology, Sociology, Engineering, among many others, that try to make use of an increasing set of visualization tools, which aim to achieve a better understanding of the components and behaviour of the analysed system.
The second fundamental aspect to the rising of Information Visualization refers to a substantial increase in the volume of information. According to Kryder’s Law, data storage capacity has come to duplicate every 18 months (in spite of a recent slowdown). Some calculations indicate that in the next 20 years a common computer will reach about 1 Petabyte (1.000.000 Gigabytes) in storage capacity. This may not mean a lot to some people, but if we think about what this represents – we can transport in an ordinary laptop 10 times the content of the largest library in the world, or even every song ever produced in our music player – then we come to be aware of the challenge we must face in a near future, in what concerns a vast volume of information’s access and processing. Sense-making data is not an acquirable commodity. There is an increasing need to arm ourselves with tools and applications that allow for the effective filtering and organization of this data, in order to turn it into useful and relevant information and ultimately into knowledge. Information Visualization and Information Design are some of the subjects that may help us reach this goal.
05. We live in a world in which images speak increasingly louder, meaning that the imagery world, growing richer and richer, is one the trademarks of the information generation. In Architecture, and probably in other areas too, the route is tread in search of beautiful images, even more than in search of meaning or content. How can visualization help the creative act without overshadowing it?
I believe that people are increasingly considering this subject for the wrong reasons – with the sole intent of creating vain representations that can only be associated with digital works of art. There’s a gigantic market for this kind of initiative, which partly explains the recent success of generative art, though it is necessary to point out the main differences between these subjects.
Any Information Visualization project (including Network Visualization) must be functional, with the purpose of promoting a better understanding of the represented theme or system. Some of these projects may also reveal an impressive aesthetic quality, which may even be considered to be art, but this “artistic” quality should occur only as a consequence and never as an objective central to the execution of a given project. This kind of occurrence fascinates me, but we must be careful enough not to excessively glorify this outcome. Quoting Dutch designer Wim Crouwel, I’d say that “I’m a functionalist disturbed by aesthetics”.
The kind of “infoporn” a number of people refer to nowadays may quite easily lead to a fixation for superficial beauty instead of one for the informative function. This is a serious problem. These days it’s relatively easy, for someone familiar with the language of programming, to create and extremely rich and awe-inspiring visualization. But this cannot be the only evaluated aspect. The main goal of Information Visualization is to facilitate comprehension. In this sense, if a project fails to comply with such a purpose, then it can only be considered to be unsuccessful.
06. Matt Woolman, whom you quote on your website, states that coherent diagrammatic visualization requires a visual language that basis itself upon numerous factors to make itself understandable, such as colour, form or composition. How would you evaluate the effectiveness of any given network?
Information Visualization, being a very recent subject, finds itself facing a significant practical component, but possesses at the same time an enormous hiatus in what concerns a strong theoretical foundation. In truth, this new language lacks an appropriate syntax that has the ability to create a set of rules and principles for the construction of certain visualization models. As says Chaomei Chen, an influent personality in this field, “the conception of a Visualization of Information’s taxonomy is imperative, so that designers may choose the appropriate techniques for particular intents”.
But what is essential in this process is the creation of interactive techniques that allow for the decrease of the cognitive overload and for the simplification of complexity. And although the necessary tools for a serious evaluation of the effectiveness of a certain project don’t currently exist, we can say that in what concerns Information Visualization, interactivity is vital.
07. Net-map was one of the projects that most caught my attention; it’s a tool that helps public consults or interviews and that helps those who take part in them in visualizing the discussion itself. Actors suddenly see themselves inter-related, in terms of representation, subordination or degree of influence. This is one of the many cases in which diagrammatic representation may in fact help in the understanding of real cases. How could Politics, in its common assumption, introduce these and other methods in our social culture? Why is it not being done?
There are already a number of fields of expertise that incorporate advanced network visualization techniques in their practice. One of the most prominent subjects is that of Social Network Analysis (SNA), a sub-discipline of Sociology that attempts to promote the importance of social interaction in numerous communities. Though most of the work developed in this area has a great academic component, I believe that it will slowly spread to our social culture, on the long run. The main actors in these processes are undoubtedly the media, which will be able to explore relationships between institutions and individuals and demonstrate certain unknown patterns, through the use of network visualization tools. There are various intervention projects such, as They Rule (http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/project.cfm?id=22) or Exxon Secrets (http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/project.cfm?id=207), which attempt to find dubious connections between a number or North American companies and organisms. A strong tendency, present in VisualComplexity.com is the political influence network visualization (connections between parties and influent blogs, candidate donation maps, or connections between political themed books) that may come to help in the explanation of certain electoral phenomena and results. (http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/index.cfm?domain=Political%20Networks).
08. With the Internet, a number of social networks were born, such as Messenger, Facebook, Second Life or Twitter. We can now talk with our friends on a daily basis without ever meeting with them physically. But is this really possible? I mean, will Man be able to progressively transpose Himself into the virtual world?
If we explore the syntax of terms that have defined the main communication devices before the Internet came to exist, such as the telegraph, the telegram or the telephone, we can see the constant presence of the tele- prefix. Tele is a Greek word that means “at a distance”, usually meaning “to be distant from”. The first use of the tele- prefix was on the word telescope, which was an adaptation from Galileo’s Italian term telescopi, it was then applied in the word telegraph, which means “to write at a distance”. In this sense, the broad field of telecommunication covers a vast number of systems that aim to communicate “at a distance”. Here we can see the importance of geographical localization, as a non transposable element that should be overcome.
What is particularly interesting in this analysis is the realizing that this nomenclature was notoriously abandoned due to successive innovation related to the Internet. In e-mail, e-commerce, or e-business, the switch of the prefix tele- for the prefix e-, usually associated to the most recent technological revolution and also an abbreviation of the word “electronics”, is quite noticeable. With the advent of the Internet and of numerous online social networks, geography, as fundamental criteria in the creation of social groups, was put aside. Since the human being is no longer geographically limited in what regards the creation of personal relationships, the extraordinary number of people with which Man can keep direct contact with during His lifespan is truly impressive; this is something that would most definitely disturb any one of our ancestors.
Various researchers state that our intelligence didn’t develop itself through exterior influence to allow for the creation of new technology, but to face increasingly complex and hierarchically organized social communities. In 1992, Robin Dunbar developed a study in which a correlation between the size of the neocortex and the size of the social group of various primates was proposed. From this same study “Dunbar’s Number” also emerged, setting at 150 the maximum number of individuals a community can sustain, regarding the maintenance of a strong and lasting relationship between its elements. I am convinced that many of these online tools, and other future iterations, will cause substantial pressure on our cognitive capacity to manage a growing number of contacts, eventually forcing “Dunbar’s Number” into other dimensions. What this means in what concerns human behaviour is only to be thought of speculatively.
09. Would you give any advice to the growing virtual social community?
--
10. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
It’s quite hard to imagine my life, my career, or even the outcome of personal projects so far out into the future. But I’d like to do more research work and to write, which is something I love to do.
I’m a Designer, in what concerns the notion of creating solutions for a given situation. But each situation requires an adequate response which depends on specific knowledge and an appropriate toolset. This would explain the vast array of subjects under the umbrella of Design, which were born, to a certain extent, to meet the needs of specific areas of expertise. Such is the case of Interaction Design, which has suffered the tension of a growing complexity and the omnipresence of technological systems, or of Information Architecture, that was the offspring of a need to cope with a substantial increase in the volume of information. This process is shared by an infinity of professional activities.
Interaction Designer defines my full-time job for Nokia, and also the area of design to which I most currently relate. On a broader perception, I would say that Interaction Design is the subject responsible for the definition of the behaviours a product or a system, with which a user may interact, may adopt. It is usually linked to software systems, cell phones and other electronic devices. Design Researcher describes the research I develop as to what concers Information Visualization, particularly in Network Visualization. Information Architect is a title which may be considered as unnecessary, as it is a part of an Interaction Designer’s job, though it reflects a particular field of knowledge within this particular subject.
02. Your better known project is Visual Complexity. What is it about and how did you come by the idea?
VisualComplexity.com (VC) is a compilation of over 600 complex network visualization projects, which operates upon distinct areas of expertise such as Biology, Social Networks, the Internet, Transport and the World Wide Web. The main goal is to achieve a more profound knowledge in what concerns this subject and a critical culture of the way various complex systems which surround our daily space are represented. The result of this disperse visualization effort resembles, in a way, the lexicality of a new language. The intent of my research work is to try to understand or interpret this new lexicality in the most appropriate manner, making it possible for the public to get to know this fascinating subject.
My interest for network representation started while I was on my MFA programme at Parsons School of Design. The main goal of my thesis (www.blogviz.com) was to build a visualization model that would allow for the analysis of the spreading of popular news articles throughout the world of blogging – the way they transmit themselves and evolve through time.
In order to achieve a better understanding of the way the spreading of information behaves in this environment, I had to learn how the World Wide Web organizes itself, in terms of its vast network of websites and connections between them, and in physical terms, as to what concerns the thousands of connected servers that piece the Internet together. I started by assembling various projects that attempted to turn these complex and unknown universes into something tangible, and from there I started exploring other types of networks, such as power grids, transit systems, social networks, cellular networks, among many others. As I established intriguing relationships between such differing networks I became increasingly interested in the subject itself.
I later had the opportunity to consolidate this research work as deputy professor of Information Architecture, in the MFA programme I was in, and as researcher at the Parsons Institute for Information Mapping (PIIM). Part of this investigative work gave birth to the core team of the VisualComplexity.com project, started on October 2005, five years after my thesis’s conclusion.
03. Of all the cases you’ve studied, I’d like to ask you to point out one that may have had particular significance to you and the reason why.
It quite probably was a group project I developed while I was on my MFA programme, at Parsons School of Design. The idea was to find the connection between a computer virus and a biological virus, MyDoom.A and SARS, respectively (these were the most publicized cases at the time). At first, it seemed a connection between these viruses was plausible, since both depend on vast networks of hosts (contaminated elements) – Internet servers and human beings – responsible for their propagation. This relationship becomes increasingly relevant if the presence of central propagation nodes within these intertwined universes is taken into account – mega-servers and international airports – generally situated on great urban centres.
Still, and this was an imperative lesson I learnt from this exercise, it is not always possible to validate our initial perspectives about any given system. And in spite of there being a series of factors that pointed to a possible connection, it wasn’t possible to demonstrate any kind of relationship between the patterns of diffusion of both viruses. What is actually important is to start by coming up with a question that leads us to investigation. And it is in this area that Information Visualisation becomes mandatory as a means of exposing aspects and variables of a given problem, that were lost or unknown in long data tables.
04. Translating the complexity of a certain structure into a diagrammatic image has been an ever-present method. From Genetics to Architecture, from deductive analysis to speculative thought… What meaning has this form of transmission come to gain in an increasingly interconnected world?
The human being has been forever involved in some sort of visual representation of information. Examples such as rock paintings, Sumerian cuneiform, or the numerous cartographical maps created throughout time, tell us that this is neither a recent nor contemporary process. Still, modernity presents very particular symptoms that lead to the birth of an independent subject called Information Visualization. There are 2 key factors that contributed to this birth: Organized Complexity and Information Volume.
In 1948, American scientist Warren Weaver divided modern science in three distinct stages: (1) Simplicity Issues – referring mostly to scientific revolution, between the 17th and 19th centuries, which was mainly tied to variable perception; (2) Disorganized Complexity Issues – a large part of the 20th century, in which the presence of systems with numerous variables was acknowledged, but whose behaviour and interconnections were unknown, thus being judged as random or even chaotic; (3) Organized Complexity Issues – due to a decisive change in the 21st century’s way of thinking, that contemplates the understanding of a number of complex and highly interconnected systems which are abundant in our daily lives. Just as in many other areas, the main challenge posed by complex networks is not based on the discovery of new networks, but on a comprehensive exploration of existing ones. This problem is common to numerous subjects, such as Physics, Genetics, Biology, Sociology, Engineering, among many others, that try to make use of an increasing set of visualization tools, which aim to achieve a better understanding of the components and behaviour of the analysed system.
The second fundamental aspect to the rising of Information Visualization refers to a substantial increase in the volume of information. According to Kryder’s Law, data storage capacity has come to duplicate every 18 months (in spite of a recent slowdown). Some calculations indicate that in the next 20 years a common computer will reach about 1 Petabyte (1.000.000 Gigabytes) in storage capacity. This may not mean a lot to some people, but if we think about what this represents – we can transport in an ordinary laptop 10 times the content of the largest library in the world, or even every song ever produced in our music player – then we come to be aware of the challenge we must face in a near future, in what concerns a vast volume of information’s access and processing. Sense-making data is not an acquirable commodity. There is an increasing need to arm ourselves with tools and applications that allow for the effective filtering and organization of this data, in order to turn it into useful and relevant information and ultimately into knowledge. Information Visualization and Information Design are some of the subjects that may help us reach this goal.
05. We live in a world in which images speak increasingly louder, meaning that the imagery world, growing richer and richer, is one the trademarks of the information generation. In Architecture, and probably in other areas too, the route is tread in search of beautiful images, even more than in search of meaning or content. How can visualization help the creative act without overshadowing it?
I believe that people are increasingly considering this subject for the wrong reasons – with the sole intent of creating vain representations that can only be associated with digital works of art. There’s a gigantic market for this kind of initiative, which partly explains the recent success of generative art, though it is necessary to point out the main differences between these subjects.
Any Information Visualization project (including Network Visualization) must be functional, with the purpose of promoting a better understanding of the represented theme or system. Some of these projects may also reveal an impressive aesthetic quality, which may even be considered to be art, but this “artistic” quality should occur only as a consequence and never as an objective central to the execution of a given project. This kind of occurrence fascinates me, but we must be careful enough not to excessively glorify this outcome. Quoting Dutch designer Wim Crouwel, I’d say that “I’m a functionalist disturbed by aesthetics”.
The kind of “infoporn” a number of people refer to nowadays may quite easily lead to a fixation for superficial beauty instead of one for the informative function. This is a serious problem. These days it’s relatively easy, for someone familiar with the language of programming, to create and extremely rich and awe-inspiring visualization. But this cannot be the only evaluated aspect. The main goal of Information Visualization is to facilitate comprehension. In this sense, if a project fails to comply with such a purpose, then it can only be considered to be unsuccessful.
06. Matt Woolman, whom you quote on your website, states that coherent diagrammatic visualization requires a visual language that basis itself upon numerous factors to make itself understandable, such as colour, form or composition. How would you evaluate the effectiveness of any given network?
Information Visualization, being a very recent subject, finds itself facing a significant practical component, but possesses at the same time an enormous hiatus in what concerns a strong theoretical foundation. In truth, this new language lacks an appropriate syntax that has the ability to create a set of rules and principles for the construction of certain visualization models. As says Chaomei Chen, an influent personality in this field, “the conception of a Visualization of Information’s taxonomy is imperative, so that designers may choose the appropriate techniques for particular intents”.
But what is essential in this process is the creation of interactive techniques that allow for the decrease of the cognitive overload and for the simplification of complexity. And although the necessary tools for a serious evaluation of the effectiveness of a certain project don’t currently exist, we can say that in what concerns Information Visualization, interactivity is vital.
07. Net-map was one of the projects that most caught my attention; it’s a tool that helps public consults or interviews and that helps those who take part in them in visualizing the discussion itself. Actors suddenly see themselves inter-related, in terms of representation, subordination or degree of influence. This is one of the many cases in which diagrammatic representation may in fact help in the understanding of real cases. How could Politics, in its common assumption, introduce these and other methods in our social culture? Why is it not being done?
There are already a number of fields of expertise that incorporate advanced network visualization techniques in their practice. One of the most prominent subjects is that of Social Network Analysis (SNA), a sub-discipline of Sociology that attempts to promote the importance of social interaction in numerous communities. Though most of the work developed in this area has a great academic component, I believe that it will slowly spread to our social culture, on the long run. The main actors in these processes are undoubtedly the media, which will be able to explore relationships between institutions and individuals and demonstrate certain unknown patterns, through the use of network visualization tools. There are various intervention projects such, as They Rule (http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/project.cfm?id=22) or Exxon Secrets (http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/project.cfm?id=207), which attempt to find dubious connections between a number or North American companies and organisms. A strong tendency, present in VisualComplexity.com is the political influence network visualization (connections between parties and influent blogs, candidate donation maps, or connections between political themed books) that may come to help in the explanation of certain electoral phenomena and results. (http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/index.cfm?domain=Political%20Networks).
08. With the Internet, a number of social networks were born, such as Messenger, Facebook, Second Life or Twitter. We can now talk with our friends on a daily basis without ever meeting with them physically. But is this really possible? I mean, will Man be able to progressively transpose Himself into the virtual world?
If we explore the syntax of terms that have defined the main communication devices before the Internet came to exist, such as the telegraph, the telegram or the telephone, we can see the constant presence of the tele- prefix. Tele is a Greek word that means “at a distance”, usually meaning “to be distant from”. The first use of the tele- prefix was on the word telescope, which was an adaptation from Galileo’s Italian term telescopi, it was then applied in the word telegraph, which means “to write at a distance”. In this sense, the broad field of telecommunication covers a vast number of systems that aim to communicate “at a distance”. Here we can see the importance of geographical localization, as a non transposable element that should be overcome.
What is particularly interesting in this analysis is the realizing that this nomenclature was notoriously abandoned due to successive innovation related to the Internet. In e-mail, e-commerce, or e-business, the switch of the prefix tele- for the prefix e-, usually associated to the most recent technological revolution and also an abbreviation of the word “electronics”, is quite noticeable. With the advent of the Internet and of numerous online social networks, geography, as fundamental criteria in the creation of social groups, was put aside. Since the human being is no longer geographically limited in what regards the creation of personal relationships, the extraordinary number of people with which Man can keep direct contact with during His lifespan is truly impressive; this is something that would most definitely disturb any one of our ancestors.
Various researchers state that our intelligence didn’t develop itself through exterior influence to allow for the creation of new technology, but to face increasingly complex and hierarchically organized social communities. In 1992, Robin Dunbar developed a study in which a correlation between the size of the neocortex and the size of the social group of various primates was proposed. From this same study “Dunbar’s Number” also emerged, setting at 150 the maximum number of individuals a community can sustain, regarding the maintenance of a strong and lasting relationship between its elements. I am convinced that many of these online tools, and other future iterations, will cause substantial pressure on our cognitive capacity to manage a growing number of contacts, eventually forcing “Dunbar’s Number” into other dimensions. What this means in what concerns human behaviour is only to be thought of speculatively.
09. Would you give any advice to the growing virtual social community?
--
10. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
It’s quite hard to imagine my life, my career, or even the outcome of personal projects so far out into the future. But I’d like to do more research work and to write, which is something I love to do.
translated by Manuel Costa Campos
What's your opinion?
w
What's your opinion?
w
Mensagens
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário