April 27th, 2016

Team Awesome Visualization Script

I. 30 Second Intro: Categorize videos main points with snipits of whats to come (compile
after video is entirely complete)
-Use quote in Intro: Every picture tells a story Rod Stewart (1971)
II. General Overview/Definition of Visualization
We live in a visual world, a world that is full of patterns. It always has been. Its a vicious
cycle of the world trying to tell a story, to communicate information to us about itself.
One of the ways it has done that throughout history is through visualization. (Shots of
nature and other things that have patterns)
Visualization can be difficult to define. While an overarching view is that visualization is
anything we can see, which may be true. But a visualization goes deeper than that. Not
everything our eyes behold is trying to communicate information for us to decipher, at
least that is not its primary intention. (Shots of nature and other visual mediums?)
Data visualization is commonly defined as the presentation of data in a pictorial or
graphical format. It enables decision makers to see analytics presented visually so that
they can grasp difficult concepts or identify new patterns. With interactive visualization
it is taken a step further by using technology to drill down into charts and graphs for
more detail, interactively changing what date you see and how its processed. (Maybe
shoot some footage of people at a business meeting, using graphs to analyze data?)
But a good practical visualization has to have three general properties: (Use animation
or graphic, maybe using a visualization? Tsunami visualization?)
a. It must be based on non-visual data
i. A visuals purpose is to communicate data. So in order to fulfil that, it
must convey something to its audience that is not clearly visual so they
can interpret it and learn from it. In other words, it has the ability to
transform the invisible into the visible.
b. It must produce an image
i. While this may seem to be a given, not all things that are visually
represented are classified as a visualization. What makes something a
visualization is that the primary means of communicating the information
or data is the visual itself. If other things like words or numbers are more
influential than the visual itself, the image is no longer a visual.
c. And finally, the results must be readable and recognizable
i. A visualization must allow the viewer to learn something from the data. It
becomes the vessel for understanding the information it represents and
therefore learn something from it.
 There are also several reasons why visualizations are important:
1) They comprehend information quickly
a. By using graphical representations of business information, businesses
are able to see large amounts of data in clear, cohesive ways and
therefore draw conclusions from that information. Since visualizations
are significantly faster at analyzing information graphically (as opposed to
spreadsheets) businesses can address problems in a more timely manner.
2) They identify relationships and patterns
a. Even extensive amounts of complicated data can begin to make sense
when it is presented graphically or in a visual manner. Businesses can
recognize parameters that are highly correlated. Some of the correlations
will be obvious, but others wont. Identifying those relationships can help
organizations focus on areas most likely to influence their most
important goals.
3) They can pinpoint emerging trends
a. Using data visualization can be used to discover trends in both businesses
and the market and can be advantageous by giving businesses an edge
over competition. Visualizations make it easier to spot outliers that affect
product quality or customer churn and allows them to address issues
before they transpire into larger problems.
4) And lastly, the can communicate stories to others
a. Once a business has uncovered new insights with visual analytics, the
next step is to communicate those insight to others. Using charts, graphs
and other visually impactful representations is important because it is
engaging and helps get the message across to the public more efficiently
and more quickly.
III. History of Visualization (use film/footage of history and of these individual events)
Since ancient times, examples of visualizations are everywhere. Some of the earliest
visualizations arose in geometric diagrams, such as the position of celestial bodies like the stars
and in maps to help aid in exploration and navigation. They also could be used for planning crop
plantings and city development.
Early indigenous humans used visualizations in the form of cave paintings. Some famous cave
paintings are located in southern France in an area called Lascoux. These paintings depicted
hunting guides and directions to the spirit world. Even thousands of years later, we can still
interpret the meanings of these visualizations.
In regards to cartography, the Babylonians used clay tablets to create a world map in 600 BC.
However the Egyptians later used papyrus to create maps of geological and mining data that
were color coded. Not only was the code crucial, but the medium of the papyrus allowed for
the data to be spread easier.
 Later on in the 18th century, visualizations began to evolve to be used more to help make sense
of social and historical data, such as collecting and analyzing political, economic and population
data. Some of the types of visualizations that emerged during this time are some that are very
familiar to the masses: bar charts, abstract symbol representation, histograms, time series
plots, contour plots, and scatterplots.(Make animation to list these)

In the next century, because of fully-fledged discipline due to technological innovations,

visualizations in the 19th century were used to analyze things such as military campaigns,
weather patterns, climate, geology, disease, social and moral behaviors, economics and trade.
One of the greatest examples of the shift and demonstrating the significance of the role
visualizations played was Charles Minards map of Napoleons Russian campaign of 1812.
Minard was a renowned civil engineer who was working in France at the time. The map shows a
clear illustration of the fate of Napoleons army as it advanced and then retreated from
Moscow in the winter of 1812. (Create visualization/animation to recreate and explain the story
while seeing it unfold visually so the audience can see the significance)
What was revolutionary was this map operated both as a geographic map and a visual timeline.
Minards map captures beautifully how a visualization can turn mere numbers into an engaging
story of human events and also condense many different facts, numeric and geographic, into a
single image.
Today we have visualizations everywhere across the Internet. We have software tools such as
Flash and Google Earth which are always publically accessible and are always available. We also
have things like graphic design, which takes visualization and transforms it into more of an
advertising display. (Use Kates interview to explain this more clearly)
One of the pioneers of data visualizations is Edward Tufte. He is a true believer in creating
heavily data rich visualizations and the importance of communicating data through visual
means. (Use Dans interview to talk about Tufte)
IV. Future- Whats in store?
But whats up ahead? We know that visualizations have been around since the dawn of
humanity. As Chuck Palahniuk expressed, There are only patterns, patterns on top of
patterns, patterns that affect other patterns. Patterns hidden by patterns. Patterns within
patterns. If you watch close, history does nothing but repeat itself. What we call chaos is
just patterns we havent recognized. So what have we not recognized yet? What are we
trying to start understanding? One of those things that has taken center stage is that of
virtual reality and augmented reality.

(Use Ecampus and a few other questions from other interviewers to fully dive into this)
 Virtual Reality really started as early as 1962 with the Sensorama.
There are three major tethered VR headsets: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Sony Playstation VR
There are three major mobile headsets: Google Cardboard, LG 360 VR and Samsung Gear
VR
There are many uses for VR: Entertainment, Military, Education, Sports, Business, Media
and many more.

Augmented Reality is a term that is used to describe a live view of a physical, real-world
environment that is augmented by computer-generated sensory input, such as sound or
graphics. A typical AR environment has digital information transposed onto a real-world
view.
Augmented reality started as early as 1990 with ARQuake, an augmented reality versions
of the Quake game developed by id Software. The game was created in the Wearable
computer lab at the University of South Australia.
There are many uses for AR: Construction, DIY repairs, Cooking, and GPS navigation.
-The Hololens (make sure to mention/explain)

V. Conclusion: (Collection of aesthetic shots and visualization examples, maybe that

correspond with each other?)
We are visual creatures. When you doodle an image that captures the essence of an idea,
you not only remember it, but you also help other people to understand and act on it
(Tom Wujec)
Visualizations are a way humans throughout history have been able to express the story
the world has been trying to tell us since the dawn of time. It will take the rest of time to
fully tell it, maybe not even then. But there is no doubt that there is an endless amount of
information out there for us to explore and discover. And with the countless patterns and
unanswered questions we are constantly pouring ourselves into finding the answer, we are
able to communicate those beautiful stories the world has told us to help add chapters
into the novel we call existence. A novel that will never say The End.

*Make sure we add credits to the end with our names and credits to what and who we
used/got info from. Also credits to our interviewees.