Re: Too much data

At 01:35 PM 2/3/2011, Ryan Hanau wrote:
>Can anyone refer me to any research on how much data a display can 
>hold before it overwhelms its users and comprehension/retention rates go down?
>
>I imagine data density and comprehension/retention rates is 
>bell-curved shaped: too little, just right, and too much. Has this 
>been quantified--X number of data points on a display is just right/too much.

Hi Ryan,

Can you tell us anything about the data, the audience for the data, 
how and where they'll use the data, and any ideas about how the data 
will be presented? All of these can influence what's optimal.

There may be artful approaches to presenting your data that can help 
people take in more of it:

   http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/08/02/data-visualization-modern-approaches/

Jennifer Tidwell talks about some of the issues in a pattern:

   http://www.mit.edu/~jtidwell/language/high-density_information_display.html

And Tufte may have some useful advice:

   http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi

Best,

Mitchell Gass
uLab | PDA: Learning from Users | Designing with Users
Berkeley, CA 94707 USA
+1 510 525-6864 office
+1 415 637-6552 mobile
+1 510 525-4246 fax
http://www.participatorydesign.com/
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