Affective and Effective Visualisation: Communicating Science to Non-expert Users

Abstract

This paper outlines Non-Expert User Visualisation (NEUVis), a mode of information visualisation commonly practiced by artists and designers. NEUVis, a wicked problem, accounts for design constraints related to the affective (or emotional) response by the user. This contrasts NEUVis from the tame, but complex, problems associated with scientific visualisation. Examples of scientific visualisation and NEUVis show how the challenge of NEUVis can be overcome by collaboration between artists/designers and scientists. Current Research at the Design Lab at The University of Sydney into NEUVis aims to map the different levels of cognitive and emotional response of different modes of visualisation.