It's when "words fall away to pictures" occasionally , perhapps particularly when reading the text of physical books, usually novels, of a large size. It doesn't happen with reading online or e-book readers or textbooks. It's as if the visual imagination (
without deliberate activation) overrides what's actually been seen by the eyes, so that the story unfolding is actually being "watched" in the mind's eye in an immersive, vivid way where one becomes virtually unaware of the actual text print and the outside world (so it's not even like watching a movie in a cinema, where there is more consciousness of the real surroundings). This is
not just getting immersed in reading - the strong, and not deliberately activated, visualization is crucial. Based on anecdotal evidence, what I'm describing (not from my personal experience) appears to be a rarer rather than a common experience. Anyone have ideas what this neurological (?) trait might be?
posted by zresearch
on Apr 20, 2013 -
18 answers
Looking for videos to create a youtube playlist to entertain a group of science-minded teenagers for about 30 min that are largely visual. Sound is fine but the bulk shouldn't be someone talking to the class like an instructor - visualizations are best - ideally they should look really, really cool. Class is engineering focused, but chemistry, robotics, wobbly bridges, comp-sci, biology, are all welcome.
[more inside]
posted by The Whelk
on Mar 24, 2013 -
6 answers
I am handy with HTML, CSS and a little Javascript. I also have a lot of experience with Wordpress theme development. What is the best path for me to become an ace data visualizer on the web?
[more inside]
posted by Rodrigo Lamaitre
on Feb 16, 2013 -
10 answers
Some freelance programming/design work (javascript data visualization) is about to drop into my lap through a friend who has heard me talking about how much I enjoy this stuff. I'm a student and have never done this professionally, but would love to in the future. Help me not look like a rookie and make this go smoothly and professionally.
[more inside]
posted by PercussivePaul
on Jan 31, 2013 -
10 answers
What are the best automata (formal language theory) simulators? This is mainly for teaching purposes. I have used JFLAP in past iterations of the class in question, and my google searches suggest this is still the best option, but I was wondering if there is anything newer and better that I'm not finding. Details below.
[more inside]
posted by advil
on Jan 28, 2013 -
4 answers
It's a visualization tool that analyses history of a code base to do some archaeology so you know who to talk to if you have questions about that section -- I swear I saw this somewhere recently, in the past week or so. I thought I bookmarked it because it was neat. I can't find it. What's the url? maybe it was some fancy git blame thing.
posted by bleary
on Dec 1, 2012 -
3 answers
Statistics filter: How can I categorize time series curves into pattern categories?
[more inside]
posted by lord_yo
on Oct 11, 2012 -
2 answers
I'm looking for an infographic (?) about how lucky it is to have been born in the developed world. I remember a format similar to "If you are also literate, then you are already in the top x% of the world," with various characteristics substituted in for "literate."
[more inside]
posted by glass origami robot
on May 27, 2012 -
7 answers
How do I stop WinAmp from displaying the song title in the Visualizations window?
posted by Trurl
on May 24, 2012 -
3 answers
I'm having trouble searching for this on Google. But, I'd like to know more about the inner workings of the mind. I'm looking for scholarly articles or anecdotes that discuss how people's minds work. I'm primarily looking for details about how vivid images are in people's minds and how close thoughts feel in someone's head.
[more inside]
posted by livinglearning
on Apr 5, 2012 -
6 answers
How would one visualize 3 parametars on the same graph?
I have to visualize my sleeping schedule (time + day) + alternations of my body temperature during the day on the same graph. How could it be done?
posted by leigh1
on Mar 22, 2012 -
13 answers
I am planning on teaching a course on data visualization to some Ph.D. students in the social sciences, and could use some ideas about designing the syllabus. If you have taken or taught such a course, I would especially value your input, but I would also love to hear from any among you who have experience doing data visualization.
[more inside]
posted by rapidadverbssuck
on Feb 14, 2012 -
8 answers
Please suggest, preferably with specific links, images that are metaphors for birth to be used for focusing on and creating visualizations during labor.
[more inside]
posted by Xalf
on Feb 7, 2012 -
29 answers
Any recommendations for information designers or visualizers to do trainings for the large research company for which I work?
[more inside]
posted by anonymous
on Jan 31, 2012 -
1 answer
I'm looking for some free software that will help me turn the CSV export from the Android time tracking app
Gleeo into some simple visualizations (multicoloured horizontal bars?) without a huge amount of work.
[more inside]
posted by Decimask
on Jan 13, 2012 -
6 answers
Can people visualize themselves moving faster than they are physically capable of moving?
[more inside]
posted by bleary
on Dec 30, 2011 -
15 answers
Are there online resources that will let an amateur make slick, professional infographics, graphs, charts or images+text? Or communities of designers that do quick, topical visualization challenges? Further details inside.
[more inside]
posted by HE Amb. T. S. L. DuVal
on Nov 8, 2011 -
2 answers
I'm looking for a way to generate something aesthetically pleasing from a somewhat successful software project I'm involved in, with an eye to giving it as a gift to the project manager.
[more inside]
posted by anonymous
on Nov 3, 2011 -
6 answers
This weekend I'm setting up a website for an academic event. I'd like the homepage of the site to have large, clickable progress bars that display the number of posts for each of the subpages (News & Announcements, Blog, Events, etc.). As more posts are added to each of the subpages (posts would likely be sorted and displayed by category and tag), its respective progress bar takes up more screen real estate and the tally count listed on/near it increases. Basically, I want the homepage to look like a giant, dynamic bar chart. Is there a freeware (or cheap) template, widget or piece of code that allows me to do this?
[more inside]
posted by iamkimiam
on Sep 15, 2011 -
7 answers
Mathematics/Topology: how to untie a trefoil knot in four dimensions?
[more inside]
posted by knz
on Aug 30, 2011 -
10 answers
What are the best math instructional sites, resources and (especially) tools for graphing and math visualization these days?
[more inside]
posted by richyoung
on Aug 24, 2011 -
10 answers
What are some activities that exercise visual or structural type thinking? Something to do with science, technology, or 3-dimensions preferred. I'm looking for puzzles, hobbies, or other activities that might be performed through an actual job that I'm just not aware of. As examples, auto-mechanics classes and memorizing anatomy books immediately comes to mind.
posted by Giggilituffin
on Aug 4, 2011 -
9 answers
Is there any relatively agreed-upon audio visualization standard, or are all visualizations of audio just interpretations of the sounds?
[more inside]
posted by jefficator
on Jul 27, 2011 -
5 answers
Is anyone aware of an image that's been generated depicting the whole circle of the earth in section view, showing the topography of the relevant land masses and sea floors?
[more inside]
posted by brightghost
on Feb 23, 2011 -
15 answers
I'd like to create a data visualization like the Guardian one linked
here. I've looked everywhere and can't find out what this kind of chart is called, or what kind of software exists to help me make it. Any ideas?
posted by chrispy
on Jan 20, 2011 -
9 answers
What is the most important information for someone who pitches web proposals to clients to have at a glance? what sort of actions would a dashboard displaying this info need to support?
[more inside]
posted by canine epigram
on Dec 30, 2010 -
2 answers
What's the best way to scour the internet for radio station playlists and then have certain songs appear on a google map?
[more inside]
posted by beardlace
on Oct 19, 2010 -
3 answers
How can I overlay global literacy and economic (poverty) data onto a map?
[more inside]
posted by k8t
on Sep 28, 2010 -
8 answers
Visual map to handle the links between ~60 pieces of data - not quite a sitemap, not quite a diagram... is there a better term for what I'm trying to find?
[more inside]
posted by pants
on Jun 30, 2010 -
6 answers
I think I can sometimes see the wakes behind cars. Am I deluding myself, or can one occasionally see the turbulence behind a vehicle?
[more inside]
posted by scruss
on Jun 20, 2010 -
13 answers
What's the awesomest online coverage of an election you've ever seen?
[more inside]
posted by Tom-B
on Jun 11, 2010 -
6 answers
The whole BP oil spill (with few legal ramifications so far, although apparently there is a
cap on the
damages which BP would be required to pay) and the recurrent stories of copyright violations (with many outrageous fines to poor saps who got caught downloading movies and music) got me thinking: is anyone aware of a nice infographic of different fines issued / punitive damages awarded for different crimes? I am basically curious how it would look like for different countries, and if it could be used as a rough "how much we value what" scale.
[more inside]
posted by TheyCallItPeace
on Jun 8, 2010 -
5 answers
Are there any screensavers that display lots of data- like the Matrix floating code screens- but actually mean something in the real world? I'd prefer OS X, but any suggestions are great.
posted by ejfox
on Jun 4, 2010 -
4 answers
Hope me understand what's going on on p.144 (footnote 5) of Tufte's
Beautiful Evidence. Page 6 in
this online excerpt.
[more inside]
posted by madred
on Mar 23, 2010 -
6 answers
I'd like to visualize data flow in a system, but can't really find a standard way to do so.
[more inside]
posted by themel
on Mar 11, 2010 -
6 answers
Distributed Computing...
Shiny distributed computing. Help me pick a project to contribute spare CPU/GPU cycles that has a beautiful visual element.
[more inside]
posted by terpia
on Mar 2, 2010 -
8 answers
I do not have the ability to visualize. Is there anything that is possible to do to correct that?
[more inside]
posted by gibbsjd77
on Jan 23, 2010 -
43 answers
I'm trying to give a very broad overview of how HTML, CSS and JavaScript interact to someone who has very limited technical knowledge. (Smart, but not in that field) What are some good resources I can share?
[more inside]
posted by epersonae
on Jan 13, 2010 -
6 answers
