TABLE OF CONTENTS We can think of the world itself as an information display. Objects may be used as tools or as construction materials, or they may be obstacles to be avoided. Every intricate surface reveals the properties of the material from which it is made. Creatures signal their intentions inadvertently or deliberately through movement. There are almost infinite levels of detail in nature and we must be responsive to both small and large things, but in different ways: Large things, such as boulders, are obstacles; smaller things, such as rocks, can be used as tools; still smaller things, such as grains of sand, are useful by the handful. If our extraordinary skill in perceiving the information inherent in the environment can be applied to data visualization, we will have gained a truly powerful tool.
The visual display of a computer is only a single rectangular planar surface, divided into a regular grid of small colored dots. It is astonishing how successful it is as an information display, given how little it resembles the world we live in. This chapter concerns the lessons we can learn about information display by appreciating the environment in broad terms and how the same kind of information can be picked up from a flat screen. It begins with a discussion of the most general properties of the visual environment, then considers the lens-and-receptor system of the eye as the principal instrument of vision. The basic abilities of the eye are related to the problem of creating...
