Theoretical foundations of Information Visualization

The field of Information Visualization, being related to many other diverse disciplines (for example, engineering, graphics, statistical modeling) suffers from not being based on a clear underlying theory. The absence of a framework for Information Visualization makes the significance of achievements in this area difficult to describe, validate and defend. Drawing on theories within associated disciplines, three different approaches to theoretical foundations of Information Visualization are presented here: data-centric predictive theory, information theory, and scientific modeling. Definitions from linguistic theory are used to provide an over-arching framework for these three approaches.