Overview
This pattern library explores the idea that visualizations can be social objects (which are any thing within a social network that interactions can occur around), and collaboration can occur around them. Some social networks exist around people and their relationships, while others exist around objects and their affordances. These are known as object centered social networks, which comes from the theory of object centered sociality. In this case we are providing the templates for building a social network around visualizations.
Visualization can take complex data and present it in a way that makes it easier to understand. As the amount of data available grows exponentially, and the average amount that a user has to deal with on a daily basis goes the same way, it makes sense to present it in a medium that makes it more simple to understand. This makes it easier for users to ask questions of the data, and consequently gain new insights from it, that may not have been possible when it was in textual form.
Creating visualizations within a social space opens up the possibility of collective intelligence occurring. This is a process where the strength of many contributions help to create an artifact that is greater than if it was created by one individual. Knowledge generation in this environment is created by debate and consensus, and in turn these processes create added information along the way.
