Visualization Information: Professors Schwartz-Bloom & Halpin

I don't think it is alway necessary to have more than one way to look at data, but it does help to have different representations. Many people may not be able to understand one way something is shown, so by having a different way to look at it, they can better understand the data being presented. Also, by seeing data in different perspectives, people are able to pick up on things they may not have noticed in the other representations, which can help them understand it better and notice different things to help them remember it. 

I think this is more true for information that is more complex and abstract, than something that is straightforward and well-known, which probably would not need more than one representation. If it is already simple, trying to show it in different forms might just make it more confusing for the viewer because they may think they are supposed to get something more out of it than is really there. And if there is a lot of information detail in something, it can cover up what the representation is really trying to show and get across. 

Multiple representations of data are seen very often in science, which Professor Schwartz-Bloom talked about. Viewing proteins, neurons, bond/bond angles like Professor Schwartz-Bloom showed, it helps to have different representations, both 2-D and 3-D, as some people may not be as receptive to certain visualizations. However, other data such as simple information being charted or graphed out does not necessarily need more than one representation.

One of the things I was taught in high school that really stuck out for me was in biology (a subject I really don't like so all the more props to it!), when we were learning about cell divison. My teacher put up a picture of a cycle of a frog/tadpole and then used the mnemonic device"I Promote Making Another Tadpole Creature" to stand for Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase and Cytokinesis. The picture and mnemonic together helped me remember the stages and what was involved in each one.