Metasyn is an interface that allows visitors to explore the collection of contemporary art in Roskiilde.  The visualization includes an interactive 3D browser that is among the best I’ve seen.  Items are organized in the space as follows:

The objects are lined up vertically by year showing the distribution of objects over time. For a given object, its vertical order is a product of the ‘grade of dominance’ that the related artist has. The objects that are made by artists whose objects are commonly accruing in the collection are placed closer to the ground plane. This results in an organisation where the most dominant artists are represented close to ‘the core’ of the structure, while the less known artists ends up in the periphery. This decision was made to support the impression of exploring the unknown in the outer areas of the collection, and to increase chances additionally that the museum’s choice of popular artists are promoted.

For the patient, be sure to check out the hi-res version of the video

Created by: Cark Emil Carlsen
Project site: Metasyn

Via Visualizing Music

These are my new ideas on how to organize information from Twitter, Buzz, Facebook and LinkedIn. Contant me for more information.

With the advent of digital communication technologies, an enormous quantity of information can be stored and transferred. But with these increasing possibilities  comes increasing complexity. As indicated by the dissatisfaction often experienced by users of information technology, current systems of accessing, organizing and navigating information are proving insufficient. Visualization, the representation of information on an interactive map, is a strategy to make more efficient use of cognitive resources when processing complex information. Historically, different methods of visualization are used by architects as a tool to analyze the project data and as a tool to generate the form of architectural spaces. Today, digital technologies have enabled architects to see information as a raw material - an entirely new medium for experimentation in the design of 3D models that seek to materialize abstract data.

This research presents the way in which architects are providing a new professional alternative to interpret a collection of spatially acquired, abstract datasets and developing suitable data representation metaphors that create ambient, spatial and uninhabitable experiences. It also presents exploitation of architectural models that we call “architectural maps” and “architectural metaphors” as a new way to visualize abstract relationships within datasets and new ways to communicate information and generate knowledge structures in order to find new solutions for information overload.

Research Thesis for a Master degree at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.

Advisor(s): Rivka Oxman, and Robert Oxman.

Presented at Information Visualization IV09 in Barcelona, Spain and at SiGradi 2009, Brazil.

Publications

• Levy, Adrian and Oxman, Rivka (2009) “Architects of Information: Architectural metaphors and virtual environments” Proceedings of SiGradi 2009, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
• Levy, Adrian and Oxman, Rivka (2009) “Architectural Metaphors: Designing Information Architecture” Information Visualization. Books of abstracts. IV09, Barcelona, Spain.

Spaces of Music is a 4-D representation of music in a virtual space. This visualization uses music as its “genetic information”, the virtual space as its medium, and the execution time of the musical piece as the fourth dimension of a three-dimensional virtual space. For each piece of music, the architect presents a 3-D visual metaphor that is modified and animated by information from different musical instruments.  The achievement of this project is to provide the opportunity to experience this representation of the information of music through a transformational model of virtual space. The changes that generate the musical information to the dynamic metaphor are recorded by several cameras throughout each song. The use of different cameras serves the designer to narrate and report the transformations of “living” metaphors in space and time. So this visualization is presented as an animation and the architect is proposing a sort of “video clip” of what happens in the virtual space.

Watch the VIDEOS !

Levy, A. (2004) Spaces 4-D animated. Architecture of the Music. Proceedings of SiGradi 2004. Unisions. Brazil. pp. 192-194.

At the end of last year, Forbes magazine asked a team from Frog Design to help them Envision the Future in 2020.  The day-long event led to an extensive online feature: “Your Life in 2020,” a collection of illustrated concepts and videos that envision the future of ubiquitous computing. In that future,  your computer is not only incorporated into every aspect of your life but is a part of you.

I love that they included the Whuffie, a personal score system developed by Cory Doctorow.