Kim said: "Useful or Playful? Is the question to ask." I'd argue that useful and playful can be part of the same thing. Certainly nothing ever stuck with me that I didn't enjoy using/ thinking about. Likewise many of the children I used to teach. The trick is to combine the 2. I think there's ways from that set of visualisations to encourage people to make playful and useful interfaces to bbc data/ apps if the API's were available. Brian said: "I presume you have some substantive evidence that no testing is require then?" That's not what I said, it's just that I'm not personally convinced that his views are as up-to-date as they should be and so cannot perpetuate his status as an untouchable usability expert. But that's best discussed over a pint at some unspecified future backstage event rather than this list.
________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brian Butterworth Sent: 14 August 2007 18:12 To: backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk Subject: Re: [backstage] more data visualisation links I guess this brings us right back to Richard MacDuff's "Anthem" programme which attempted much the same but with music in the first Dirk Gently book (coming soon to Radio 4)... On 14/08/07, Kim Plowright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I think the point here is 'does the visualisation of the data adds meaning, or is just pretty to look at?'. Does your visualisation tell people more about the data set than the raw numbers? Is it 'legible'? Does it expose trends and meaning that would otherwise be hidden to all but the most numerate? Does it let someone reach sound conclusions faster, or navigate quicker, or become more accurate? Which is Tufte territory, not Nielsen. http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/ Not that there's anything wrong with pretty, but good datavis is about adding layers of meaning, as well as the layers of aesthetics. Its possible to remove the 'data' during the visualisation process and turn it in to a purely aesthetic entertainment experience, too. Some of the Jonathan Harris stuff does this - it's information as spectacle. Fun to look at, not 'wrong' per se, but a terrible way of actually turning data -> information -> knowledge. Useful or Playful? Is the question to ask. > Some of these seem to be of dubious real use. Has anyone put any of them > though Jakob Nielsen-style user testing? - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html . Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/ -- Please email me back if you need any more help. Brian Butterworth www.ukfree.tv
