Time plays a key role in all aspects of the intelligence analysis process, from data ingest through analysis methods to the cognitive processes that create intelligence products; however, the concept of time is difficult to grasp and not yet fully understood. Today’s analytic tools fall short of satisfying the needs of analysts; these tools do not significantly facilitate an analyst’s cognitive process when assembling the pieces of a puzzle together since opportunities for analysts to exploit the time dimension of their data are curtailed by the implicit representation of time found in these tools and their visualizations. There is a need to revisit and understand how time plays a role. In this paper, we briefly discuss why time is hard, the need for visualizations and interactions to deal with time, and conclude with some thoughts about a temporal analytic discourse. Overall, time cannot be left as an afterthought when developing visualizations; time must instead be well represented and highly interactable.
Revised: June 13, 2006 |
Published: May 1, 2006
Citation
Kuchar O.A., T.J. Hoeft, S.L. Havre, and K.A. Perrine. 2006.Isn't It About Time?.IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications 26, no. 3:80-83.PNNL-SA-49378.doi:10.1109/MCG.2006.64