Did you know that the human retina can transmit visual information to the brain at roughly the rate of an Ethernet connection? In comparison, reading text transmits information at roughly the rate of a dial-up modem. Information Week brought this topic to our attention in their article, “Breaking the Code: The Role of Visualization in Security Research.” It is easy to see how infographics were born.

In presentations, print materials, and video, relying on text has drawbacks. Meanwhile, using smart data visualization combined with intelligent data mining can allow researchers to draw connections between data points. To get from data to visualization, semantic networks are a key component. Semantic technology continues to grow and expand its uses.

Melody K. Smith

Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.