In this first lecture, I will introduce some basic notions of information visualization. I will discuss what information visualization is, what are its main goals, and the main phases in developing an information visualization project.
Let's start with the definition. If we take a look at a dictionary and check the word visualization, we will find a definition such as: "visualization is the act or process of interpreting in visual terms or of putting into visible form", and we might recognise an activity that we perform very frequently, we might remember the experience of being able to solve a problem when we changed our way of looking at that problem. And we might also remember seeing two persons trying to explain to each other something and being unable to communicate and resort to diagrams, picking up a piece of paper and drawing.