Everyone is familiar with the expression “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Here at OcuCue we append this expression to pump up this point in the IP Networking space:
A picture is worth a thousand words.
A picture that routinely updates itself is worth even more.
Just where the initial expression (the first line) originated is debated. An advertising copywriter in 1927 passed off similar words as a Chinese saying (to increase credibility) in an ad for streetcars. Earlier, famous people expressed this general sentiment, including Russian writer Ivan Turgenev (in Fathers and Sons in 1862) and Napoleon Bonaparte. Several Asian variations include “ten thousand words.”
The point is that by using visualization, one can communicate more information, faster than with words (data) alone.
So where did visualization begin? Cave paintings date from 35,000 B.C. according to some sources. There is general agreement that by 25,000 – 23,000 B.C. cave paintings were the real deal. These illustrations sufficed as documentation until writing evolved, probably in the neighborhood of 4,000 B.C.
Since the advent of written language mankind has developed more rapidly. Yet it is interesting that we still consider a single illustration or picture to be a substitute for conveying “a thousand words.”
To put an exclamation point on this observation, now we know that when we read text, our retina, ocular nerve (hence our name OcuCue) and brain actually treat each word as a visual unit. This popular paragraph presents this point.
Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Cambridge University
So, as humans we are more oriented to pictures and illustration than we might have thought.
In the IP Networking space we are awash in data (words, data and automated alerts) that often are presented and forwarded as text. By coming full circle and returning to the art of visualization in 2010, we can capture and convey more information by using pictures.
And real pictures, not just static dashboards, that update themselves every 30 seconds or 5 minutes are even more informative and valuable.
See it. Fix it.
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Tags: dashboards, Edge of the Cloud, informative, IP, networking, picture, updates, valuable
