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Tables and Early Information Visualization

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Knowledge Visualization Currents

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Abstract

This chapter considers the deep history of tables as visualization modalities. It covers a variety of tables that have appeared between 1900 BCE and 1400 CE that include: Sumerian accounting tables; chronicles; canon tables; medieval calendars; gridded tables such as urine and eclipse; and tables that communicate conceptual abstractions, such as religious dogma and degrees of blood relation. These tables represent some of the earliest and most significant milestones in information visualization. Analysis of these tables demonstrates that as early as 1300 BCE the need to visualize information had driven the invention of representations that transformed the way information has been communicated and used.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Chap. 5 of Goody [21] for a complete discussion.

  2. 2.

    Zodiac and Vein Man are anatomical diagrams. A Zodiac Man exposes the organs of the human body, linking each to an astrological sign to produce a correspondence between human and universe known as “microcosm/macrocosm,” a Platonic theory positing that the workings of the human body are influenced by the cosmos as expressed through the signs of the zodiac. A Vein Man sketch specifies which veins to be used for bloodletting as part of treatment for a particular illness. A Sphere of Apuleius was a graphical device for computing the outcome of an illness or treatment [43], in essence, predicting whether a patient would live or die.

  3. 3.

    Two versions of the Tower of Wisdom may be viewed at the British Library: Arundel 83 (f.135), known as the Howard Psalter and Hours (c. 1310–1320); and Arundel 507 (f.20v), a late fourteenth century theological miscellany.

  4. 4.

    See Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS. Français 9220 (f.12), a thirteenth century manuscript.

  5. 5.

    Smedresman and Warren [48] provide a translation of the tower’s text along with a brief discussion of its meaning.

  6. 6.

    The critical Latin edition of Etymologiae was published by Lindsay [49]. Thayer [50] provides an online version of this Latin text. A contemporary translation is found in Barney et al. [51].

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Professor Robert K. Englund of the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative for providing the drawing of the Uruk III tablet. The assistance of the following individuals in securing image permissions is greatly appreciated: Dr. Julia Walworth, Fellow Librarian of Merton College, Oxford; Stewart Tiley, Librarian, St. John’s College, Oxford; and Jackie Brown, British Library.

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  1. Computer Science Department, Pace University, 163 William Street, 2nd Floor, 10038, New York, NY, USA

    Dr. Francis T. Marchese

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Correspondence to Francis T. Marchese .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science Department, Pace University, 163 William Street, 2nd Floor, New York, 10038, New York, USA

    Francis T. Marchese

  2. Institute for Computing Research, London South Bank University, Research Unit, 103 Borough Road, London, SE1 0AA, United Kingdom

    Ebad Banissi

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Marchese, F. (2013). Tables and Early Information Visualization. In: Marchese, F., Banissi, E. (eds) Knowledge Visualization Currents. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4303-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4303-1_3

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