Information Graphics: is Information an Art?

Direct Link to the video: BBC Newsnight: Information Graphics
Via @dMultimedia - Blog dMultimedia

This BBC broadcast from August 9, 2010, looks into the art of making information beautiful, and poses the question: How do you make statistics look interesting? The writer and designer David McCandless replies:

..."you just need to apply the rules of visual design to information"...

Is information an art? And how does this affect the nature and evolution of science and knowledge?

The art historian Judith Wechsler engaged in interdisciplinary studies exploring some of this at MIT, and edited a book: On Aesthetics in Science, which we found very useful and informative when teaching epistemology of science. We were looking for creative original sources to approach the generation and processing of information, and how this triggered certain effects in social communication working with an interdisciplinary team in the late '80's. Encountering this book was mind blowing, as are many of the clips we encounter today.

The dawning of the internet and tools that enabled social learning and networking in business environments in the '90s, brought the means and resources that the University did not have at the time: processors, personal computers and of course, the net. Today you don't need to be sitting in a University nor working with a major corporation, to be able to acquire the means to develop your own learning paths of inquiry, and personal development. It's a matter of personal interest and professional responsibility.

What you may need is scaffolding, and coaching to recognize where you stand, and how to be able to learn and design your information and knowledge domains, how to distinguish what is relevant and what is useful to you, for your projects and teams.

Are you aware of the impact that a medium and a format can have, informing the interactional design in different settings? Likewise, your interactional design informs your chances to sustain successful communications, when engaging in conversation and negotiating or "sharing" information with others.

..."images are a powerful global language packed with emotional power"...

..."However even a bar chart can be misleading, if taken completely at face value"...

Are you aware?

A Brief History of Data Storage

The video below shows a progression of data storage (capacity) in terms of traditional formats such as texts and documents that can be organized into newspaper print editions, magazines, books and documents and libraries that can contain printed text and image files.

It not only illustrates changes in the design and dimensions of the information storage medium, it also gives good hints of the evolution we've seen (and will continue to see) in data portability aspects. By data portability we mean different things: "open standards" and/or "the possibility for people to reuse their data across interoperable applications." You can find many interesting projects on the internet, involving different market players and organizations, regarding data formats, policies and such.

We hope they may extend the clip in ulterior versions and mashups might show up later. We tend to say that the internet has changed many things and yes it has, but it's not the only thing changing our approach to and activities with information and knowledge.

Watch it on YouTube and read the credits and info generously provided by ihsabawagode.