A periodic table of visualization methods
Here it is, a veritable compendium of every possible way of presenting, summarizing or comparing information on one plane. The periodic table of visualization methods — from visual-literacy.org — is a lot to digest. From the lowly bar chart to cognitive mapping and many points in between, this demonstrates that there is definitely more to the life of design than an endless array of tables. The meta-visualization itself is quite nice, too.
http://www.perceptualedge.com/blog/?p=81 writes:
<blockquote>The periodic table of elements, unlike this table that was modeled after it, is quite effective in design. It works because its organization reflects the meaningful attribute of each element’s atomic number (the number of protons in the elements atomic nucleus). The two-character abbreviations that it uses to label each element work because they are the standard abbreviations that are used by scientists. This new periodic table of visualization methods, however, exhibits no such organizing principle. What is the point of doing an entire research project to force a list of visualization methods into a paradigm that doesn’t fit it? Apart from breaking the visualization methods into general categories (information visualization, concept visualization, etc.), this table exhibits no useful organization.</blockquote>
See also:
http://www.infovis.net/printMag.php?num=188&lang=2
[...] See also: Periodic Table of Visualization Methods [...]