"Posters, paintings, guidebooks (MAPS), films, computer games and other digital environments are just some of the cultural artefacts in which text, narrative and image intersect in particular ways." http://www.art-design.herts.ac.uk/ocs/index.php

Milestones in the History of Thematic Cartography, Statistical Graphics, and Data Visualization : http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/Gallery/milestone/sec4.html . Grandfather of InfoGraphics : Charles Minard http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/Gallery/re-minard.html

Information Visualization Resources : http://graphics.stanford.edu/courses/cs348c-96-fall/resources.html
SIGGRAPH Links : http://www.siggraph.org/education/related.htm

"Computer-based information visualization, or "infovis", centers around helping people explore or explain data through systems that include static or interactive visual representations. The central design challenge in infovis is designing a cognitively useful spatial mapping of a dataset that is not inherently spatial. There are many possible visual encodings, only a fraction of which are helpful for a given task. We draw on the intellectual history of several traditions, including computer graphics, human-computer interaction, cognitive psychology, semiotics, graphic design, statistical graphics, cartography, and art. The synthesis of relevant ideas from these fields is critical for keeping pace with the torrents of data that confront us all."

"And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight in a bud, was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." - Anais Nin