Fourteen ways to say nothing with scientific visualization

Abstract

In "Twelve Ways to Fool the Masses When Giving Performance Results on Parallel Computers," (see Supercomputer Rev., vol.4, no.8, p.54-5, 1991) David Bailey ends with the admonition, "Conclude your technical presentation and roll the videotape. Audiences love razzle-dazzle color graphics, and this material often helps deflect attention from the substantive technical issues." Unfortunately, Bailey gives no guidance in the means and methods for producing such a result. This article seeks to fill this void. There are numerous time-tested scientific visualization techniques for producing pretty pictures while avoiding unnecessary illumination of the data. Our collection has been culled from the scientific visualization literature and numerous presentations we have given and attended.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>