What Makes an Effective Representation of Information: A Formal Account of Observational Advantages

Abstract

In order to effectively communicate information, the choice of representation is important. Ideally, a chosen representation will aid readers in making desired inferences. In this paper, we develop the theory of observation: what it means for one statement to be observable from another. Using observability, we give a formal characterization of the observational advantages of one representation of information over another. By considering observational advantages, people will be able to make better informed choices of representations of information. To demonstrate the benefit of observation and observational advantages, we apply these concepts to set theory and Euler diagrams. In particular, we can show that Euler diagrams have significant observational advantages over set theory. This formally justifies Larkin and Simon's claim that "a diagram is (sometimes) worth ten thousand words".

Inspection and Selection of Representations

“…The advantages of particular representations over others have been extensively discussed [25,6,5]. Furthermore, there are evident cognitive benefits of multiple representations over single representations [1].…”

Indispensability and Effectiveness of Diagrams in Molecular Biology

“…Laura Perini, one of the main philosophers devoted to assessing the representational and epistemic role of diagrams in biology, argues that the defining feature of diagrams (which properly demarcate them from linguistic representations) is the meaningfulness or significance of spatial properties and relations among the syntactically articulated graphical elements of the representing structure [5]. The syntactically-based and semantically-driven graphical behavior of diagrams is what differentiate diagrams from other kind visual representations, like pictorial ones 2 [11]. For instance, one cannot graphically alter the relative position of the 1 It would be highly controversial to assume proper names like "D-glucose" as representations if we consider representations as a sort of "homeomorphic relations" between the symbol and the represented phenomena.…”

Quaderns de filosofia VI, 1

“…Laura Perini, one of the main philosophers devoted to assessing the representational and epistemic role of diagrams in biology, argues that the defining feature of diagrams (which properly demarcate them from linguistic representations) is the meaningfulness or significance of spatial properties and relations among the syntactically articulated graphical elements of the representing structure [5]. The syntactically-based and semantically-driven graphical behavior of diagrams is what differentiate diagrams from other kind visual representations, like pictorial ones 2 [11]. For instance, one cannot graphically alter the relative position of the 1 It would be highly controversial to assume proper names like "D-glucose" as representations if we consider representations as a sort of "homeomorphic relations" between the symbol and the represented phenomena.…”

“…Assuming: first, that those holobionts that acquire microorganisms that bring about fitter traits will (ceteris paribus) survive longer and reproduce more 11 ; and second, that there are mechanisms that guarantee the survival of the microorganisms outside the holobiont (e.g. Browne et al 2017), as well as the existence of a higher degree of horizontal gene transfer among the members of a microbiome (e.g.…”