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