Information Visualization and Interface Culture

This text seeks to contextualize the history of and discourse surrounding information visualization. It positions visualization in relation to broader 20th century visual culture and addresses the evolution of the interface as a ubiquitous tool and the aesthetics for understanding the organization of information. A timeline of precursors to the Graphical User Interface (GUI) is developed and a survey of recent related history and theory is conducted to deliver additional perspectives on information aesthetics. The text concludes with a brief survey of several recent visualization projects to illustrate the variety of fields being engaged and enriched by contemporary information design.