July 9, 2007 – Dr. Stan Ruecker

“It’s not that there’s too much information – it’s that there aren’t enough tools.” I think this quote from Stan’s presentation expresses what he is trying to accomplish. The rich prospect interfaces and data visualizations with which Stan is working are the tools which we are going to be able to navigate the wealth of information which makes up the internet of today and the possibilities for tomorrow.
Stan’s presentation was totally amazing. Though I was not able to see practical connections to how I might use this technology in my current teaching situation it still was very remarkable. I was amazed at the wide variety of examples and the different uses that rich prospect interfaces and data visualizations made possible. The pill interface could be a vital technology for paramedics, doctors and nurses. If they were able to recognize and act upon the pills they find it could save lives. The delegate browser would serve as a very useful tool for speakers and presenters at conferences as well as business people. I know for certain my Dad would benefit significantly from a data visualization such as this. He is a CFO and always tries to pride himself on greeting every employee by name. If he were able to look at the different faces he would be able to remember more personal information and help to make his employees feel valuable. Though so people might argue that this is a very false pretense, but when an organization is as large as his, it would be impossible for him to remember names, faces and other relevant data about all of his employees.
I would like to see data visualization move into the elementary classroom. While I can see that it might not be a priority for the programmers right away I think there could be a wide variety of uses. Elementary students are moving from concrete to a more abstract thinking and the data visualizations might be the tool to help them accomplish this. I am eager to see what the future holds with this interesting and unique technology.