Abstract
A novel method of visualising data based upon the schooling behaviour of fish is described. The technique allows the user to see complex correlations between data items through the amount of time each fish spends near others. It is an example of a biologically inspired approach to data visualisation in virtual worlds, as well as being one of the first uses of VRML 2.0 and Java to create Artificial Life. We describe an initial application of the system, the visualisation of the interests of a group of users. We conclude that Information Flocking is a particularly powerful technique because it presents data in a colourful, dynamic form that allows people to easily identify patterns that would not otherwise be obvious.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Partridge, B.L., “The Structure and Function of Fish Schools”, Scientific American, June 1983, 90–99.
Reynolds, C.W. “Flocks, Herds and Schools: A Distributed Behavioural Model”, Computer Graphics, 21(4), 1987.
Terzopoulos, D., Tu, X. & Grzeszczuk, R. “Artificial Fishes with Autonomous Locomotion, Perception, Behaviour, and Learning in a Simulated Physical World”, Proceedings of the Artificial Life IV Workshop, MIT Press, 1994.
Crabtree, B. & Soltysiak, S. “Identifying and Tracking Changing Interests”, IJCAL’ 97 Workshop on AI in Digital Libraries.
Salton, G., Automatic Text Processing, Reading, MA, Addison Wesley Publishing Company Inc, 1989.
Macleod, K.J. & Robertson, W., “A Neural Algorithm for document clustering”, Information Processing and Management, 27(4), 337–346, 1991.
Orwig, R.E., and Chen, H., “A Graphical, Self-Organizing Approach to Classifying Electronic Meeting Output”, Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 48(2) 157–170, 1997.
Kohonen, T., Self-organisation and associative memory, Springer-Verlag, 1989.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1998 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Proctor, G., Winter, C. (1998). Information Flocking: Data Visualisation in Virtual Worlds Using Emergent Behaviours. In: Heudin, JC. (eds) Virtual Worlds. VW 1998. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 1434. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-68686-X_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-68686-X_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-64780-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-68686-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive