Skip to Main Content
Research Guides
? Ask Us / FAQS

Digital Humanities - Research, Teaching, and Learning: DATA VISUALIZATION

Add later

WHAT IS VISUALIZATION IN THE DIGITAL HUMANITIES?

"Within the humanities, visualization is widely employed in a variety of contexts. In digital history, for example, network analysis often relies on graph visualizations, while digital source criticism uses visualizations in the context of interpretive research. Even conventional historiography frequently turns to digitally researched and created maps, charts, and graphs to help communicate research results. Curators use visualizations as aids in making past relationships and situations more accessible and understandable through engaging exhibits. Artists and graphic designers frequently work with researchers conducting research projects and developing digital humanities visualizations.
The range of issues concerning visualization research in the digital humanities is equally wide. Data sources are complex in any area of the humanities and can involve similarly complex visualizations. The challenges of dimensionality reduction are common, as are the design challenges arising in work and analysis of new and old media."   Visualization Research in the Digital Humanities  (Research Topic in Visual Communication  Frontiers of Communication

Digital Visualization as a Scholarly Activity:    "Thought processes are enhanced when ways are found to link external perception with internal mental processes by the use of graphic aids. Such aids range from scribbled diagrams to sophisticated linkages between thought, images, and text such as those employed by Leonardo da Vinci. These tools allow visual perception to be harnessed in the dynamic processes associated with the creation or discovery of new knowledge. Digital humanists are applying digital versions of these age-old tools in many areas of research, from the graphs generated by text analysis applications to virtual reality models of ancient buildings, methods known collectively as ‘digital visualization’."

(See: p. 281 in:  Martyn Jessop (208).  "Digital Visualization as a Scholarly Activity," Literary and Linguistic Computing23(3): 281-293.).

CREATIVE WORK USING DATA VISUALIZATION - A SMALL SAMPLING

Aaron Koblin  = Works (For each work, click on "project Site + Video). Aaron Koblin is the creative director of the Data Arts Team at Google and an acclaimed artist and designer specializing in data and digital technologies. His work uses real-world and community-generated data to reflect on cultural trends and the changing relationship between humans and the systems they create.  Koblin presented his works and those of others at USC's Visions and Voices (6 Nov 2014).  See also his video, Aaron Koblin: Visualizing ourselves ... with crowd-sourced data ( [18.03 mins.] TED Talk, filmed March 2011). For Transcript, click here.

Lesia Trubat. Electronic Traces   "The concept of Electronic Traces is based on capturing dance movements and transforming them into visual sensations through the use of new technologies. To do this we focused on the ballet shoes themselves, which through the contact with the ground, and thanks to Lilypad Arduino technology, record the pressure and movement of the dancer's feet and send a signal to an electronic device.A special application will then allow us to show this data graphically and even customize it to suit each user, through the different functions of this app."  (See:  FlowingData - Projects).

David McCandless The Beauty of Data Visualization   (Video, 23 Nov. 2012 - 18 mins.).  McCandless is a London-based independent data journalist and information designer. He visualizes information – facts, data, ideas, subjects, issues, statistics, questions. See also his Blog: Information is Beautiful.

Nathan Yau  FlowingData. Explores how we use analysis and visualization to understand data and ourselves. See: The Blog (a combination of highlighting others’ work,); Yau's own projects;  Visualization guides (a free resource for everyone); Membership: which provides access to Courses; Tutorials; and The Process.

Stanford Spatial History Project   (Stanford University) "Visualization of historical data in time and space illuminates patterns of movement and transformation in the past. We are experimenting with visualization as a tool to develop new arguments (and new questions) about historical processes and understandings of major historical events."

Visualizing Data (Andy Kirk, a UK-based freelance data visualisation specialist). See also his Blog.

DATA VISUALIZATION CHANNEL

DH IN PRACTICE – VISUALIZING TEXT - VIDEO

DH in Practice – Visualizing Text [5:48 mins.]. Published on Oct 19, 2016. This is the first video in the series 'Digital Humanities in Practice' featuring Geoffrey Rockwell, Professor of Philosophy and Humanities Computing at the University of Alberta, Canada and Stéfan Sinclair, Associate Professor of Digital Humanities at McGill University, discussing text visualisation in digital humanities emphasising that visualisation is not end product but an intellectual process of thinking and interpreting text. Interactive visualisations, uses of visualisation for narrative, physical computing, video games, and Pokemon Go are also discussed.

VISUALIZATION TOOLS

36 Best Tools for Data Visualization  

35 Incredible dataviz Tools, by Brian Suda, Sam Hampton-Smith (2019). Take the hard work out of creating charts and infographics with these tools.

Data Visualization: Tools Listing     [Datavisualization.ch is built, published and maintained by Interactive Things, a design and technology studio based in Zürich, Switzerland.] Our selection of tools includes those that we use the most, and that we enjoy working with. It includes tools for plotting data on maps, frameworks for creating charts, graphs and diagrams and tools to simplify the handling of data. We provide User Experience, Interaction Design and – of course – Data Visualization services. Our skills range from design to development, and from research to teaching.

Chart and Image Gallery by Sharon Machlis.   30+ Free tools for data visualization and analysis.

D3js     "D3.js is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data. D3 helps you bring data to life using HTML, SVG and CSS. D3’s emphasis on web standards gives you the full capabilities of modern browsers without tying yourself to a proprietary framework, combining powerful visualization components and a data-driven approach to DOM manipulation. "  

Gapminder World for teachers. Gapminder tools for use in the classroom: See downloads page to get started.  A set of software tools for creating rich interactive data visualizations.
 
Prefuse. A set of software tools for creating rich interactive data visualizations.
 
Walrus .  "Walrus is a tool for interactively visualizing large directed graphs in three-dimensional space. By employing a fisheye-like distortion, it provides a display that simultaneously shows local detail and the global context."

JOURNALS

Journals at USC with a Specific Focus on Visual Communication:

Visual Communication.  A quarterly, peer-reviewed academic journal publishing top research in visual studies. It welcomes contributions from scholars in anthropology, sociology, history and scientific research. Articles cover still and moving images; graphic design and typography; visual phenomena such as fashion, professional vision, posture and interaction; the built and landscaped environment; and the role of the visual in relation to language, music, sound and action.

Visual Communication Quarterly  An international, peer-reviewed journal of theory, research, practical criticism, and creative work in all areas of visual communication. "We define "visual" in the broadest sense of the word -- from dreams and cognitive theory through gesture and geography, as well as issues concerning visual ethics, visual ecology, representation, visual media in all forms, and visual behavior. Methods range from tightly controlled quantitative studies through critical analysis, essays, qualitative scholarship, and creative art. We also print numerous single images and portfolios as well as multimedia work on our Web site, a rarity among academic journals.

For additional journals, see:

Directory of Open Access Journals  (Search for journals, using key phrase:  visual communication)

BOOKS