

The rise of explorable explanations - hamstersoup
http://www.maartenlambrechts.be/the-rise-of-explorable-explanations/

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TuringTest
This is more than "explorable explanations". There's no reason why the whole
concept of _user facing application_ couldn't disappear on behalf of this
style of interaction, where commentary is interleaved with active documents.

The first generation of software for non-scientists was based on a metaphor of
office paperwork, where information workers created static collections of data
("files"). But computers now are powerful enough to support dynamic content
deployed through the web on the fly ("web apps"), without requiring a long
previous installation of supporting software , and there are much better
compatibility standards than in the 60s, so the original constraints on
software distribution no longer apply.

System-level software benefits from a traditional write-compile-execute cycle,
where the result is a monolithic binary distribution that is then run over
different data sets. But this model is not necessarily the best or the only
valid one for user-facing software. Business workflows often work best by
combining several small tools, à la Unix pipes.

A platform like the one described by Bret Victor which allowed end users to
build active documents without requiring programming knowledge, using
PowerPoint-like composition tools, could easily replace many pre-built generic
applications, in the same way that Excel is used in offices around the world
to replace small "database&CRUD front-end" combinations for small, specific,
non generalizable workflows.

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hamstersoup
The article presents some great 'explorable explanations' by (or inspired by)
Bret Victor.

This really does seem like the future of communicating hard concepts.

At high school I would often write BBC Basic simulations of the dull problems
we had been given as homework. I was so much more passionate when I was
exploring and learning myself.

~~~
TuringTest
_> This really does seem like the future of communicating hard concepts._

If we take into account that _programming_ is considered as a way to
communicate hard concepts, this should be seen as the future of software
development as well. And of hardware tools, and design, and public on-stage
performances...

Bret Victor's vision of active exploration is not limited to communication and
learning, but all to all creative activities.

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markjspivey
There was another concept back in early 2000s called "interactive journalism"
and "interactive visual explainer":

[http://www.elearningpost.com/articles/archives/interactive_v...](http://www.elearningpost.com/articles/archives/interactive_visual_explainers_a_simple_classification)

[http://visualoop.com/blog/29513/cool-interactive-visual-
expl...](http://visualoop.com/blog/29513/cool-interactive-visual-explainers)

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arikrak
Here's the progress of educational tools:

    
    
      - Lectures  
      - Textbooks  
      - Lecture videos   
      - Interactive tutorials
    

It would be great to move beyond videos and build courses around 'explorable
explanations' and other interactive tutorials.

(I'm looking for such tutorials on my site
[https://www.learneroo.com/](https://www.learneroo.com/) . Email me at
ak[at]learneroo.com if you're interested in collaborating)

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whitten
This includes a lot of visualizations that I had never considered for
interrelationships.

