Note: This post is one in a series of posts that seeks to examine
ways in which information visualization (infovis) can be game-like, or
gamey (an unfortunate, but fun, term we default to when discussing this
topic as a group).
After a brief word on directed activity, I thought it might be useful to discuss a fundamental split in infovis that Bobby and I sussed out a few weeks ago. After some discussion, we noticed that most of the infovis examples we were looking at fell into one of two categories: narrative or free-form.
All infovis invariably boasts spatial exploration of data, but some follow a stricter pattern of narration to convey a cogent story with multimedia and infographics. Other visualizations, the free-form variety, are more open engagements with data sets, featuring multiple filters to achieve alternative perspectives on said data. Exciting right? In this post I want to explore two examples of what I believe to be narrative infovis.
After a brief word on directed activity, I thought it might be useful to discuss a fundamental split in infovis that Bobby and I sussed out a few weeks ago. After some discussion, we noticed that most of the infovis examples we were looking at fell into one of two categories: narrative or free-form.
All infovis invariably boasts spatial exploration of data, but some follow a stricter pattern of narration to convey a cogent story with multimedia and infographics. Other visualizations, the free-form variety, are more open engagements with data sets, featuring multiple filters to achieve alternative perspectives on said data. Exciting right? In this post I want to explore two examples of what I believe to be narrative infovis.
Narrative infovis is what you're most likely to encounter on most newspaper websites.
For instance, the Austin American-Statesman's Leave or Die
is a very basic example of narrative infovis.
In this instance, and with many other narrative infovis pieces, the information space is
carefully organized and activity is directed through hierarchically
arranged information. Once a county is selected video content loads and automatically plays. Users are free to engage other aspects of the county's information space (articles, photos, a map or statistical chart) if they choose, but the content is more or less static and the result of interaction is an increased awareness of the phenomenon of racial expulsion in parts of America.
I refer to Leave or Die as very basic because very little of the interactive experience, save scant aesthetic flourishes, borrows from the subject matter. For instance, this interface could just as easily be used to engage any topic for which there are articles, videos, photos, a map and a chart. This isn't intended as a critique, but rather to show the basic structural requirements of narrative infovis.
Now from very basic to nuanced. Elmundo.es features some of the more innovative infovis on the internet. This is largely attributable to their having an in-house Interactive Infographic Department since 1999, which now has a staff of about 60 people, a fact I picked up from Interactive Infographic Guru Alberto Cairo's book, Sailing to the Future.
Los seis rostros de 007 (The six faces of 007) is a
guided exploration of information about the actors who have played James Bond (notice I chose a screen shot that features an X-ed out Burt Reynolds... what if? Oh, what if?). Here information is placed on a linear time frame. Through prompts and button clicks users arrive at a fuller understanding of the history of Bond movies and the decision making process of choosing Bond actors.
These two examples feature a lot of stark contrasts. But stripped of its sexy animations, tweens, and Bond skin, Los seis rostros de 007, like Leave or Die, could engage almost any subject. These are both easily extensible interfaces for story-telling and I think this is the primary reason that you find more narrative infovis in online news sources.
Both instances, and most narrative infovis pieces, are exhaustible information spaces. To be more clear, once a user has gone through Los seis rostros de 007 or examined every tab in every county within Leave or Die, she probably has little reason to engage the piece again.
To finally bring in a game analogy, once I finished King's Quest VI, a very structured, narrative game, I was reluctant to play it again. When I knew how things worked out for Prince Alexander I was immediately concerned with freeing up the space on my meager 40mb hard-drive.
In this instance, and with many other narrative infovis pieces, the information space is
carefully organized and activity is directed through hierarchically
arranged information. Once a county is selected video content loads and automatically plays. Users are free to engage other aspects of the county's information space (articles, photos, a map or statistical chart) if they choose, but the content is more or less static and the result of interaction is an increased awareness of the phenomenon of racial expulsion in parts of America.
I refer to Leave or Die as very basic because very little of the interactive experience, save scant aesthetic flourishes, borrows from the subject matter. For instance, this interface could just as easily be used to engage any topic for which there are articles, videos, photos, a map and a chart. This isn't intended as a critique, but rather to show the basic structural requirements of narrative infovis.
Now from very basic to nuanced. Elmundo.es features some of the more innovative infovis on the internet. This is largely attributable to their having an in-house Interactive Infographic Department since 1999, which now has a staff of about 60 people, a fact I picked up from Interactive Infographic Guru Alberto Cairo's book, Sailing to the Future.
Los seis rostros de 007 (The six faces of 007) is a
guided exploration of information about the actors who have played James Bond (notice I chose a screen shot that features an X-ed out Burt Reynolds... what if? Oh, what if?). Here information is placed on a linear time frame. Through prompts and button clicks users arrive at a fuller understanding of the history of Bond movies and the decision making process of choosing Bond actors. These two examples feature a lot of stark contrasts. But stripped of its sexy animations, tweens, and Bond skin, Los seis rostros de 007, like Leave or Die, could engage almost any subject. These are both easily extensible interfaces for story-telling and I think this is the primary reason that you find more narrative infovis in online news sources.
Both instances, and most narrative infovis pieces, are exhaustible information spaces. To be more clear, once a user has gone through Los seis rostros de 007 or examined every tab in every county within Leave or Die, she probably has little reason to engage the piece again.
To finally bring in a game analogy, once I finished King's Quest VI, a very structured, narrative game, I was reluctant to play it again. When I knew how things worked out for Prince Alexander I was immediately concerned with freeing up the space on my meager 40mb hard-drive.
Nice post (and topic) Adam,
I'm really interested in gaming and information display. One of the best paces to find "analytics" or infovis within gaming is the post-game statistics screens.. some good examples are the kill maps from Halo (see Mike Danziger's posts). I'm wondering what examples there are out there of that games that play as infovis? Are there any?
Regardless, please post more on this topic of narrative infovis. :)
Thanks Greg! I think game tutorials could also deserve a look as another example of a game/infovis collision. I've got some other infovizzy stuff queued up in the coming days...
I think in regard to play as infovis, you should check out Bobby's post on fantasy sports. I'm also working on a game review of a celebrity stock exchange that I'm involved in. The experience relies heavily on infovis (I wouldn't be able to keep up without it!).