Metaphors We See By

Visualization appreciation is the recognition and reflection on the value, utility or function of visualization. Metaphors are powerful literary devices used to describe concepts in a different context. In this work we use metaphors, as a device, to appreciate visualizations. The basic idea is to use concepts from different and unrelated contexts to define, describe and characterize visualizations. We gather and characterise eleven such metaphors by the analysis of various visualizations selected from different domains. This metaphoric interpretation of visualization, we suppose, can serve as an alternative conceptual model for visualization. We demonstrate this by means of a couple of uses-cases and thus conclude by suggesting how this proposed metaphor framework is a good way of seeing, understanding and reflecting upon visualizations.