Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 14, No. 590. Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London <http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/> <http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/> [1] From: "Robert J. O'Hara" <rjohara@uncg.edu> (27) Subject: Re: 14.0587 cognitive effects of formatting? [2] From: Mark Horney <mhorney@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU> (13) Subject: Re: 14.0587 cognitive effects of formatting? [3] From: Patricia Galloway <galloway@gslis.utexas.edu> (3) Subject: Re: 14.0587 cognitive effects of formatting? [4] From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk> (11) Subject: the KWIC in particular? --[1]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001 08:36:08 +0000 From: "Robert J. O'Hara" <rjohara@uncg.edu> Subject: Re: 14.0587 cognitive effects of formatting? > I would be most grateful for a pointer to what Humanists consider the best > treatment of the relationship between how data is presented and how we > think about those data -- i.e. the cognitive, intellectual consequences of > formatting. Among the most important works on this subject are the beautiful volumes by Edward Tufte, most recently his _Visual Explanations_ (available from Amazon.com and other book dealers). In addition to being excellent studies of data presentation, they are just luscious books to possess. One of the case studies in Visual Explanations examines the data that was used to decide whether or not to launch the ill-fated Challenger space shuttle. The data submitted by the engineers to launch control contained all that was needed to show a launch would be dangerous, but the important bits were so confusingly organized and submerged that the launch went forward anyway. Tufte rearranges the data in one simple graph that makes the danger strikingly obvious; if anyone had seen that graph the launch probably never would have taken place. Even after the disaster, the engineering company presented more information that was still confusingly arranged and unclear; specifically, the data were arranged by launch date rather than temperature, which was the important variable. I remember reading this case study alone in my office late one night, and when I got to that part I exclaimed aloud, "They didn't arrange the data by temperature???" Don't miss Tufte's books -- they are treasures. Bob O'Hara -- Dr. Robert J. O'Hara (rjohara@post.harvard.edu - http://rjohara.net) Biology Department, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC 27402 USA Residential Colleges and Higher Education Reform: http://collegiateway.org --[2]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001 08:36:38 +0000 From: Mark Horney <mhorney@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU> Subject: Re: 14.0587 cognitive effects of formatting? I recomment the three books by Edward Tufte: "The Visual Display of Quantitative Informtion" Graphic Press, 1983 "Envisioning Information" Graphic Press, 1990 "Visual Explanations" Graphic Press, 1997 --Mark Horney Mark Horney, Ph.D. Center forAdvanced Technology in Education University of Oregon 1244 Walnut St Eugene, Oregon 97403 (o) 541/346-2679 FAX: 541/346-6226 mhorney@oregon.uoregon.edu Web de Anza: http://anza.uoregon.edu The Intersect Digital Library: http://intersect.uoregon.edu --[3]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001 08:37:11 +0000 From: Patricia Galloway <galloway@gslis.utexas.edu> Subject: Re: 14.0587 cognitive effects of formatting? Interesting that in the case cited, centering of the word amounts to decentering of the word... Pat Galloway University of Texas-Austin --[4]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001 08:39:39 +0000 From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk> Subject: the KWIC in particular? Thanks for the above references to Tufte's books. Not to seem ungrateful -- but would there be a good discussion somewhere of the KWIC in particular, its relationship to the development of corpus linguistics? Other, less obviously graphical re-formations of data that have led to significant changes in fields of study? Yours, WM ----- Dr Willard McCarty / Senior Lecturer / Centre for Computing in the Humanities / King's College London / Strand / London WC2R 2LS / U.K. / +44 (0)20 7848-2784 / ilex.cc.kcl.ac.uk/wlm/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : 01/12/01 EST