Text not
pre-attentive
Text =
Abstract Concepts = Very High Dimensionality
–Multiple & ambiguous
meanings
–Combinations of abstract
concepts more difficult to visualize
–Different combinations imply
different meanings
–Language only hints at meaning
è
based on common understanding “How much is that
doggy in the window?”
Facilitate
Information Retrieval
–Collection Overview
–Visualize which parts of query
satisfied by document / collection
–Understand why documents
retrieved
Cluster
Documents Based on Words in Common
–Finds overall similarities among
groups of documents
–Picks out some themes, ignores
others
Map
Clusters onto 2D or 3D Representation
–Minimize time/effort to decide
which documents to examine