Level of Data - a concept for Knowledge Discovery in Information Spaces

The visualization of large volumes of abstract information requires mechanisms to support the user by knowledge discovery. Therefore we developed the level of data concept. Therein the abstract nature of the data and the diverse user community has been taken into account. By using the iceberg metaphor, we classified the information space into several layers. The different backgrounds and analysis purposes of the users yield varous views on the data. With these different perspectives on the iceberg, the levels of data can be pointed out. For proving the level of data concept we developed a system for the interactive visualization of shares prices as a representative example of abstract information. With the integration of this concept it is possible that any user can perform any analysis within single system.