Data Visualisation of Complex Adaptive Systems

Abstract

In Complex Adaptive Systems, the complexity of a construct is predicated by its heterogenic entities and the dynamic nature of their interactions. These interactions are often non-probablistic and triggered as a consequence of potentially multiple previous effects, which can lead to emergent behaviours of the overall system not present in the individual sub-systems. These systems are ubiquitous, not only in natural habitats and within living organisms but also in human-made constructs such as communities, organisations and technology that often have a life of their own. Human-made constructs are particularly interesting due to the data generated that can be unstructured, multidimensional and dynamic, often containing outlier data that may be considered anomalous but can still have critical impact. Complex adaptive data or data generated from Complex Adaptive Systems have interesting ramifications, particularly for data visualisation. Due to the unpredictable nature of complex adaptive data well known forms of data visualisation such as bar charts, scatter plots and heatmaps are inadequate in effectively communicating the data stories in Complex Adaptive Systems. There is a need for more advanced data visualisations that caters for complex adaptive data as it can serve as an educational and decision-making tool for experimentation of ideas in systems that are complex and adaptive.