Contact:cdent@burningchrome.com
Bradford, P. (1996). Peter Bradford. In R.S. Wurman, _Information
architects (p. 62-75). Zurich: Martin Pedersen & Richard Saul
Wurman.
Visual demonstration of the power of different representations for
showing the essence of something. Depending on what we want to show we
can emphasize or deemphasize something by what we choose to include in
the representation. Because we, as humans, are good at identifying the
target domain in an "incomplete" modelling domain the highlighted
point does not obscure the big picture but instead clarifies it.
Interestingly I find Bradford's graphical style a little too simple.
I'm not able to identifying the target domain in my own collection of
concepts. The arrogant fellow in me would like to think that is
because my internal representations are so very detailed that
Bradford's simple representations don't relate. That's probably not
the case. It may be that my style of abstraction is simply different
from what Bradford chooses.
This indicates how powerful a computer could be in education. If we
present a learner with a collection of information, a few sample
representations and tools to create alternate representations the
learner can spend some time experimenting with the representation
until they experience their own personal eureka and see it.
Even a simple "show it to me another way" button could be worthwhile.
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