Visualization and its Discontents.("Image and Meaning: Envisioning and Communicating Science and Technology" conference)(Technology Information)

Those of us involved with computer graphics understand the power of visualizations to convey meaning. Because we're among the most visually oriented people on the planet, we can relate to the notion that humans are visual creatures--that more of the human brain (nearly half) is devoted to processing visual information than to any other task, and that once engaged, our visual processing centers open high-bandwidth connections to other brain functions and stimulate higher-order thinking. And we can readily cite examples of how scientific visualizations help us see the unseen and understand the world in new ways.

But while the benefits are real, and the pursuit of creating ever more potent graphics is worthwhile, it's important to remember that images alone can't do the whole job of conveying meaning. This was one theme to emerge during a four-day conference called "Image and Meaning: Envisioning and Communicating Science and Technology" held recently at MIT. The group of presenters, which included some of the most acclaimed scientists, engineers, and communicators of our time, extolled the virtues of visualizations, but also reminded us of their limitations.

Sir Roger Penrose--a professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford who was honored in the 1960s for his theories about black holes and (with Stephen Hawking) about the big bang--relies heavily on visualization to gain insight and understanding. "Images are absolutely vital for exploratory mathematical thinking," he says. "In my notebooks, I have far more pictures than calculations, because when a problem is reduced to calculation, it's almost solved. Whereas it's enormously difficult to come to grips with conceptual ideas without having some kind of images. They're also extremely valuable in getting ideas across to non-mathematicians."

Edward O. Wilson, a Harvard evolutionary biologist who was awarded the National Medal of Science for his research as well as two Pulitzer Prizes for his ability to communicate his findings, also depends on images. In fact, in his forthcoming 800-page book, which chronicles his decade-long study of ants, he includes 5000 illustrations of 625 ant species, 325 of which are new to science. "In biology, we are focused on and driven by images," he says. "The illustrations allow me to enter the habitat and get visual feedback about the traits and behaviors of the species, ... to learn detail deep in consciousness and look for patterns. Many discoveries in biology are made this way, by learning to live with the organism."

But several noted engineers and scientists asserted that in their fields even the most sophisticated computer-generated visualizations and animations cannot, by themselves, play more than a supporting role. For example, William Mitchell, dean of MIT's school of architecture and planning, claims that while image production is central to architectural engineering, different levels of abstraction are required for various stages of the design process, and at some point the architect will need a physical model to examine and handle. "No architectural designer would do without this type of ...