“A picture is worth a thousand words.” We have all heard that proverb before, and as security professionals, we see examples of this through the charts, graphs and maps we use on a daily basis. Studies have proven that visualizations allow users to find what they are looking for faster than scanning large tables of data.
But why? There is a physiological explanation. More of the human brain is devoted to visual processing than to any other sense. When we look at something, the eye and the visual cortex go into immediate action to make sense of what we are looking at by identifying a pattern. The faster this pattern can be identified, the faster the information is channeled to our cognitive centers. The result of this visual processing enables us to process much larger amounts of information from a picture than from text and at a faster rate.
Many books and studies have been written about data visualization and how it pertains to security. Regardless of the author, each professes that visualizations make our jobs easier. For the most part this is true, but it may not always be the case where complex visualization types are concerned. In some cases, complex visualizations can be counter-productive and decrease the user experience.
I am currently conducting a study to gain perspective on data visualization and the security professional. I invite you to take this survey. What is your Data Visualization IQ?
The results will be posted after the survey closes.
12/15/2011: The survey is closed. Results will be posted to this blog in Janurary, 2012
The opinions expressed here are my personal opinions.Content published here is not read or approved in advance by RSA and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of RSA nor does it constitute an official communication of RSA.
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