Information Metaphors

In his article, Metaphors for Visualization, Luke discusses the idea of visualizing vast amounts of information using 'real world' concepts or metaphors for more innovative ways of presenting knowledge.

The examples he uses, as well as other examples I've seen, seem to be extreme versions of the core idea of myBroadSheet.

The idea that information can break out of our usual UI paradigms 'forms' and 'lists' and cater more to our aesthetic tastes while also going a long way to increase our 'at a glance' understanding of the relationships and information being presented.

The problem though, is that most of these examples are extreme. It's either a Windows form, or a spinning globe of pictures or website screenshots - but it's rarely something in between.

With Microsoft's upcoming release of the Windows Presentation Foundation (Codename: Avalon) one gets the idea that Microsoft is hoping that developers will begin taking it upon themselves to get more creative when it comes to UI design. WPF allows developers to work in 3D/Vectors just as easily as it allows them to work on a Windows Form (in theory).

The problem is though, I don't think that this idea is going to catch on very quickly - certainly not by 'serious' business applications or utilities and maybe not even by the web where the focus at the moment seems to be on trying to simply replicate client-side application functionality using AJAX etc.

Combine this trend with an increasing propensity to create open APIs and perhaps there is a broader opportunity for 3rd parties to create innovative presentation experiences built on the next-gen of web applications. Experiences that resist the urge to create 'fringe' visualizations just because they can, but rather visualizations that help a user experience information 'at-a-glance' while having a more elegant, intuitive and immersive experience.