Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Written By Aishwarya Shettigar

How visualization can become your personal superpower.

Illustration by Bon Adriel, 2022

This blog is a summary of the recent IEEE VIS 2021 award-winning paper “Perception! Immersion! Empowerment! Superpowers as Inspiration for Visualization.”

We all encounter data visualization in our everyday life, but have you considered how these graphs, maps, dashboards can be seen as superpowers that extend your regular human capabilities? Scientists from the University of Calgary, Autodesk, Université Paris-Saclay, and the Sorbonne have proposed an exciting new framework for thinking about visualization through the language of superheroes. In other words, how visualization can be used as your very own superpower.

Thinking of data visualization as a means of enhancing humans’ capabilities is not a new concept. In fact, this is the purpose of all data visualization. Arranging data points into a histogram helps us see key distributions and patterns, enhancing our cognition and pattern recognition. Looking at an X-ray of the human body helps us see internal skeletal systems that we otherwise couldn’t with the naked eye. Visualizations have always served as a way to aid and amplify our abilities.

Willett et al. expand this purpose by characterizing visualization methods as exhibiting superpowers. They lay out 7 different common capabilities between superpowers from fiction and data visualization techniques, including Enhanced Vision, Visual Synesthesia, Enhanced Attention, Numeracy, Recall, Comparison, and Prediction. Let’s discuss these below.

  • Enhanced Vision: Just like Mad Eye Moody’s magical eye allowed him to see through materials, AR and invisible tagging systems are able to look beyond an object’s superficial quality and give the viewer a representation of its internal material characteristics.

  • Visual Synesthesia: Marvel’s Daredevil, the blind vigilante who relies on his superhuman sonar vision capabilities, can be analogous to systems that can translate between multiple modalities (like haptic, visual, touch, and sound representation) to provide users with the combined benefits of each modality.

  • Enhanced Attention: The iconic spider-sense that Peter Parker uses to detect threats around him is an example of a fictional enhancement of attention. In Data Visualization, we can see the same capability expressed in infographics through call-outs and other highlighting techniques. Visualization creators exercise their “gestalt-sense” to bring their viewers attention to areas that need their immediate attention.

  • Enhanced Numeracy: Numeracy in small scales is quite accessible to most humans. Enhanced individuals from fiction like Mr. Spock, however, can quickly perform complex mathematics and help his human counterparts in a pickle. Visualization systems that seek to do the same include mathematical overlays like RealitySketch that show viewers related angles and measurements for real objects.

  • Enhanced Recall: Visualization design often takes into account cognitive load when considering how much information to present to their viewers since recall can be severely impacted. Unless you’re Jason Bourne, recalling past information at the drop of a dime becomes an incredibly difficult task.

  • Enhanced Comparison: When humans are given 2 or 3 sets of representations to compare, they do relatively well. Include more than that, and the task becomes impossible to do accurately. The authors suggest tools to enhance this capability by providing clarified context and new arrangements of visual information in a “mixed reality” format.

  • Enhanced Prediction: Predictive visualizations are given high value for the extent of their power, similar to super entities from comic books such as Clock King or Mad Thinker. Predictive modeling techniques such as stock market indicators or weather forecasts are acclaimed in the field as they give ordinary viewers a glimpse into the previously unknowable future.

Representations of the enhanced prediction and enhanced comparison capabilities.

Visualizations don’t need to get caught in a radioactive particle test, or bitten by a radioactive spider, or hit with gamma radiation — it really is a lot of radiation — to gain extraordinary capabilities. The authors encourage data visualizers to bring new life to their visualizations and empower their creations through several guided dimensions.

Some methods that can be applied to enhancing visualizations include broadening their scope and access. Giving more users the ability to use a tool easily, and having that tool respond to a broader environment are two great ways to bring it to superpower status. Imagine how bad people in the suburbs feel when Batman only serves Gotham City.

Considering other characteristics of a tool, such as its real or perceived relevance in space and time to the environment, also empowers it for the user. Decreasing the physical distance between a visual representation and reality empowers better understanding, such as overlaying a sonogram over a patient’s body rather than on a screen.

Giving users more control over how they interact with visualizations is also key. Superheroes quickly become stigmatized when they wreak havoc on their communities while trying to serve them. When users are steering the visualization instead, they become much more empowered.

And finally, know that superheroes aren’t perfect, and they come with many flaws intrinsic to their enhancements. Visualizations are no different. They can misconstrue data and perpetuate biases easily, and severely affect the beliefs and actions of their users. Before you take off, remember that with great power comes great responsibility.

Ordinary versus enhanced numeracy representations of a physical environment.

References


Aishwarya Shettigar
Previous

Visualizing health justice in Baltimore City
Next

Zine-Making and User Experience