exploring data visualization
Lately I’ve been in a kind of exploration mode. Usually when i get like this, I find more old things that I should have known about 5 yrs ago than anything truly new. So this time has proven no different. I am sure I have practiced many concepts of data visualization in the past but haven’t known the formal nature of the term. So, I am now back-stepping so that i can learn, relearn, apply and re-apply. It may seem painful, but this is all part of my cycle of thought: figure out how to do something, do something, and figure it out better later.
It seems like this could be a useful exploration in quite a few ways. For one, having an intimate understanding of data probably isn’t a creative developer’s strength. In the past, I considered understanding data structures and sources to be not necessary for the sake of specialization. Since I’ve been at EVB, I’ve been continually exposed to the contrary aspects of this misconception. More-so, recently I’ve been bombarded with ideas that require a better understanding of data visualization concepts and in some cases, I didn’t realize it. For instance, I bought a Lemur a few months ago and sadly I’ve had not much of a chance to play with it yet for a lot of reasons. Fundamentally, my plans are to visualize the data that is being transmitted from this device within a java/processing environment. — I will be starting with a plan to research and may need to further break down the oscP5 library before I can get there. — Additionally, any consumer generated content being managed within the sites I’ve recently worked on have been some simple form of data visualization, i.e. upload your mom’s face sites… yeah it’s a stretch but still! Lastly, and more classically, there are a opportunities both discovered and undiscovered far more plentiful than I had ever previously imagined in the social media track of our industry. And this kind of stuff is actually useful. This is particularly exciting for me because of my multiple converging passions/fascinations: motion design, generative imagery, generative sound, generative… stuff, heuristics, genome project shit, this era of sociology, experimental hardware. As vague and/or vast as this term may be, I have a good feeling that this exploration will lead me to some excellent material and new ways of thinking.
Here are a couple great places that got my heart racing:
http://processing.org/exhibition/features/koblin/
http://code.google.com/apis/visualization/