Data Visualisation and Sonification

Numbers, numbers, numbers

We are not good at making sense from piles of numbers. We are great at instinctively making sense of pictures and sounds though so turning numbers into graphics or sonifications turns out to be a way to understand data, solve problems and convince people to change.

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Florence Nightingale: rebel with a cause

A lamp

Florence Nightingale is famous as a nurse but her real conrtibution was as a statistician who showed how data visualisation could change the world … (read on)

Solving railway timetabling problems

Train timetables are complex. When designing a railway timetable you have to think about the physical capabilities of the train, what stops it makes, is it passenger or freight, where passing sections are and more. Data visualisation can help with timetabling and make sure our railways continue to run on track!… (read on)

Sonifying Zebrafish Biology

zebrafish

Biologists analyse data about the cell biology of animals to understand their development. Much of this involves looking for patterns in data to use to refine their understanding of what is going on. But patterns can be hard to spot when hidden in the vast amount of data collected. Humans are very good at spotting patterns in sound though – that is all music is. So why not turn the data into sound to find these biological patterns?… (read on)

Tony Stockman: Sonification

Two waves superiposed on a background of occasional noisy white spots.

Tony Stockman, blind from birth, devised a simple kind of sonification of data just so that he can do his PhD work on the effect of breathing on heart rate, then went on to become an expert in sonification and auditory displays … (read on)

More to come (of course)

This blog is funded by EPSRC on grant EP/W033615/1.