Greg J. Smith writes: I’m happy to report that the Handbook of Research on Computational Arts and Creative Informatics will be released sometime in the next several weeks. I contributed a chapter entitled “Information Visualization and Interface Culture” to this book and in the space of about 10,000 words I outline a few backstories related to visualization. These include: an survey of early radar technology, Vannevar Bush’s Memex, the Head-Up Display (HUD), an excavation of the Graphical User Interface (GUI), the obligatory salute to Edward Tufte and an examination of John Maeda’s Aesthetics + Computation Group at MIT. The text isn’t entirely about timelines and technology as I use texts by Lev Manovich and Alan Liu to consider the cultural implications of pervasive interface culture. The chapter also includes some exemplary work by Ben Fry, Stamen Design, Burak Arikan, lab/RAD and a team comprised of José Luis de Vicente, Irma Vilà and Bestiario. More here.