Big Ideas: The shape of time

Visualisation is widely believed to bring many benefits,
assisting us in making sense of all kinds of information. To try
to make diagrams of history - using timelines or some other kind
of chronographics - may seem a simple task. We might regard time
as 'obviously' linear, as 'naturally' flowing from left to right.
But what shape should history be?


Stephen's talk focuses primarily on the period in the
mid-eighteenth century when the modern timeline was invented -
tracing its typographic, pictorial and other roots and setting it
in its intellectual context. He also gives some insights into the
advances we can now achieve when chronographics are made digital
and interactive. This will include asking: what are the
requirements of such tools for serious historical work?


Stephen Boyd Davis is professor of Design Research at the Royal
College of Art. His own work is concerned with visualisation, in
which he is directing research students working with museums and
archives.