Cooperative diagrams: water wings for information oceans?

Cooperative diagrams combine cooperative dialogue and diagrammatic clarity in dynamic, interactive information visualisations. Research at City University into cooperative diagrams is outlined. Key concerns of this work include multi focal browsing, intelligent cooperation and cooperative diagram layout management based on a virtual/artificial reality of force interactions. Myriad applications of cooperative diagrams invite research. The paper questions how generic these applications could be, and specifically whether there is scope for application in arbitrary situations of information overload.