An interesting article on the blending of art and the data sciences.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303299604577323743008395060.html

At companies and universities, and far beyond, the goal of data-driven digital artists is clear, not cynical: convey complex concepts quickly and crisply. They want to generate not Art-with-a-capital-A, necessarily, but understanding. They take stone-cold data—units of information—and turn them into something warmly communicative. Beautiful, too. So they become a pleasure for us to absorb.

A fact presented in the article that merits further investigation:

Humans process information 17 times faster using sight than other senses, according to one Danish physicist.