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Tuesday, April 23, 2002

 
9:42 PM: [#] [0]

yesterday i went to an edward tufte seminar on visualizing information. i got his three books as part of the seminar fee, but since they technically belong to the school, i bought my own copies because they were so good! i've already devoured "the visual display of quantitative information" and am working on "envisioning information."

edward tufte is extraordinarily charismatic: knowledgeable, well spoken, w/ a dry wit and a no-nonsense attitude. he doesn't have the arrogance of jakob nielsen, but also isn't as benevloent as donald norman. i've read most of the books on tufte's must-read list, including "understanding comics," "the design of everyday things," and most surprisingly (but enjoyably!), "phillip & alex's guide to web publishing," one of my favorite obscure web books, and one of the ones i wish i could have written. :)

speaking of books, he owns and showed off several old, gorgeous books -- original newton & galileo manuscripts! one of his assistants walked around the tables, holding the books with gloved hands.

i tried to apply most of what i thought i was learning to online courses, both development & supports stats (and maybe display to students). i sketched out a few ideas. in general, though, when designing information, you keep this in mind:
1. what do you want to prove? what do you want them to know?
2. compared to what?
3. show all relevant data
4. show causality
5. multiple variables
6. "do no harm"
7. annotate
8. borrow strength; borrow broadly

one of the things i think i got was a renewed desire to get aaron & jay to actually apply usability stuff to the olcdb -- create screens on paper first, and then code them! (rather than create & get me to use it so they can code the next piece). i also am not sure they understand my desire to keep non olcdb-specific elements in my control, i.e., on the courses server rather than on lynx. how do i communicate this without hostility?

the seminar was at the san diego hilton beach and tennis resort. yowza! what an absolutely incredible place! all of the rooms were suites w/ balconies arranged in little "villas," and surrounded with it's right on the east bay, which is a perfectly beautiful, peaceful piece of sand and surf. the rustle of the palm trees and the gentle lapping of waves were entirely stereotypical and seriously soothing. i spent all afternoon out there and drove home through torry pines and the coast highway.