STAF13 *** Daniel Peraya
Texte, image et son dans le multimédia
Text, picture and sound in multimedia
Text, Bild und Ton in Multimedia



Comparing two visualizations

Analytic task of Chris Mueller * Send EMail


Contents
Abstract
What to compare?
Presentation
Visualization 1: warm air and cold air
Visualization 2: warm air is light and cold air is heavy
Visualization 3: warm air getting cold and cold air getting warm


Abstract
The task consists in choosing and comparing two visualizations of the meteo task (warm and cold air).

up - Contents - Abstract - What - Presentation - Visu1 - Visu2 - Visu3


What to compare?
After checking the solutions of my student fellows I decided to compare the products of Cyril and Gael.

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Presentation
The visualization of Cyril needs twice the hight of a larger screen.
The browser window displays 4 sub-units, each one consisting of:
- 1 text element covering the entire width of the window
- 2 picture elements side by side or just 1 picture element in the middle of the row.

In a first view the two first sub-units can be viewed and after scrolling the following two sub-units.

The visualization of Gael fits perfectly into a larger screen.
The visual unit of the browser window is devided up into smaller portions by using 4 tables:
- 1 table of 1 column and 1 row
- 1 table of 1 column and 2 rows
- 2 tables of 2 columns and 2 rows.

All the 11 cells - presenting 5 picture elements and 6 text elements - can be viewed in same time, no scrolling needed.
I like this holistic approach.

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Visualization 1: warm air and cold air
In both products, the first visualization consists of 2 pictures showing
- warm air and cold surface and
- cold air and warm surface.

The two pictures of Cyril show the two combinations given by the text in a rather abstract way.

For me, this visualization is clear and easy to understand - no animation needed. As long as you are familiar with abstract representations of molecules and density.
This visualization is more analytic and explaining.

Before Gael starts his visualization, he gives a short introduction explaining his visual representations of cold air and warm air.
In the two animated gifs of his visualization he doubles the same information by adding text to the graphic information.

I like his representations of cold and warm surfaces: winter and summer - in a quite naturalistic style.
Almost no abstraction, hence, easy to understand. This visualization is more describing and demonstrating.

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Visualization 2: warm air is light and cold air is heavy
In both products, the second visualization consists of animated gifs showing
- warm air being lighter and
- cold air being heavier.

The two pictures of Cyril continue visualizing the text informations in a rather abstract way:
- Warm air with lower density and lower specific weight and lower pressure onto the mercury column.
- Cold air with higher density and higher specific weight and higher pressure onto the mercury column.

Still, you have to be familiar with abstract representations of molecules and density. Cyril's visualization is more analytic and explaining again - demanding from the viewer the physical concepts of density, pressure, and scaling.

I would like to see the mercury container within the cold air getting much more empty than that. The difference to the other mercury container should be clearer.
I like the two columns starting together and falling back at once together - the column within the warm air waiting for the other one to reach its top. The impression of starting again is strong.

Gael combines the two movements in one animated gif.
Again, his naturalistic approach is easy to understand: by showing a cloud of warm air going up and another cloud of cold air falling down his visualization remains more describing and demonstrating.

I would like to see the clouds leaving the field of the picture completely and coming in on the opposite side to repeat the action. Such a procedure would each cloud make performing its movement without falling back within the picture after each cycle.

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Visualization 3: warm air getting cold and cold air getting warm
In both products, the third visualization consists of animated gifs showing
- Warm air becoming colder and falling down.
- Cold air becoming warmer and mounting up.

The two pictures of Cyril continue the same rather abstract visualizing style.

It is nice to see the warm air in contact with the surface getting colder. But before starting all over again, there should be visual sign of the end of the process and of the beginning of the next turn. Something that tells the viewer: we go back to zero and start again.

The same is true for the cold air becoming warm. The way up of the warmer part is good visualized. And this animated gif indicates the restart of the whole program by reintroducing the surface that disappeard during the process.

The corresponding visualizations of Gael are not very clear in the message. He leaves his naturalistic approach and tries out a more symbolic style which is much harder to understand.

The warm air is getting colder and then warmer again, because there is no sign indicating the restart of the cycle.

The cold air becoming warmer is much better perceptible on its way upwards. The abrupt change back to cold makes it clear that the demonstation is starting with another turn.

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tidBits 111-18


contact mail to: prolingua@access.ch
Chris Mueller (prolingua@access.ch)

++41 (0)52 301 3301 phone
++41 (0)52 301 3304 fax

97 05 24