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Information visualization and sonorification
Beyond text: visualization, metaphor, logos, virtual reality and sound
Background
Traditionally all information produced by the UIA has taken textual form, partly due to lack of resources, but also due to lack of adequate software to manipulate images or to generate meaningful graphics from UIA data.
Anthony Judge, former Director of Communication and Research of the UIA, had a long-term interest in information visualization. As early as in 1971, he produced a 16mm film (now in electronic format) called Visualization of Organization which is about the work of the UIA in this field.
| Visualization of Organization |
UIA initiatives moving beyond the text constraint
| 1997 | Publication of World Guide to Logotypes, Emblems and Trademarks of International Organizations, where the pictorial side of international organizations was presented for the first time. |
| Experiments with virtual reality displays in three dimensions, as a way of improving comprehension of complex systems of linkages between organizations and between problems. | |
| 1999 | These experiments were integrated with the online version of UIA databases(to enter the free databases of visualizations of networks click here) to provide users with:
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| For detailed information about these experiments, see Experiments in multi-media visualizations. | |
| 2008 | The UIA began to offer the Keynote Listening service which is a tool facilitating understanding and inspiring participant engagement during conferences by representing information in alternative visual ways. |
| 2009 | The UIA introduced Live statistical widgets beta which are illustrations (visualizations, graphs, maps, tables, etc.) using 'live' statistical data on global civil society networks, as produced by the UIA. Widgets, when embedded on a web page, dynamically reflect changing data as the data is updated. |
