Animation : Can It Facilitate ? 0

Graphics have been used since ancient times to portray things that are inherently spatiovisual, like maps and building plans. More recently, graphics have been used to portray things that are metaphorically spatiovisual, like graphs and organizational charts. that only carefully designed and appropriate graphics prove to be beneficial for conveying complex systems. Effective graphics conform to the Congruence Principle according to which the content and format of the graphic should correspond to the content and format of the concepts to be conveyed. From this, it follows that animated graphics should be effective in portraying change over time. Yet the research on the efficacy of animated over static graphics is not encouraging. In cases where animated graphics seem superior to static ones, scrutiny reveals lack of equivalence between animated and static graphics in content or procedures; the animated graphics convey more information or involve interactivity. Animations of events may be ineffective because animations violate the second principle of good graphics, the Apprehension Principle, according to which graphics should be accurately perceived and appropriately conceived. Animations are often too complex or too fast to be accurately perceived. Moreover, many continuous events are conceived of as sequences of discrete steps. Judicious use of interactivity may Animation: Can It Facilitate? 2 overcome both these disadvantages. Animations may be more effective than comparable static graphics in situations other than conveying complex systems, for example, for real time reorientations in time and space. Some functions of graphics The enthusiasm for graphics of all kinds rests on the belief that they benefit comprehension and learning, and foster insight (their proponents include Larkin & graphics have been proposed. Graphics provide an additional way of representing information; two codes, pictorial and verbal, are better than one. Graphics may be aesthetically appealing or humorous, attracting attention and maintaining motivation. Graphics, as the saying goes, may save words by showing things that would otherwise need many words to describe. This especially holds for faces, maps, systems, and the like that are naturally spatial and hard to describe or visualize. Since shepherds first notched sticks to keep track of their flocks or hunters bent trees to remember a route, graphics common uses of space and the things in it to convey other concepts (Tversky, 1995, 2001). Graphics use visual elements and the spatial relations among them to represent elements and relations that may be visuospatial, or may be metaphorically visuospatial, Thus, another …