These interactive technology timelines allow users to visualise key chronological events suggested as may occur during the development of these future technologies, and are specific to each technology between now and the year 2040. After selecting up to five different technologies that the user wants to view information for, they are presented with an interactive ‘context-focus’-style visualisation that allows them to interrogate a potential future-looking timeline for reach technology. Users will get a distinct, separate timeline for each technology selected.

On initial loading, each timeline is displayed against a range of ‘parent’ event type categories to which all the events have been grouped. These are:

• Defence Implication

• Integration

• Legal/Ethical

• Production

• Social Adoption

• Technology Development

Users may sort the y-axes of all timelines simultaneously via the options dialog to view events relating to each technology:

• Alphabetically, based on their category of event

• Level of impact

• level of likelihood

Once they user has selected to use the Comparison Timelines visualisation on the tool’s home page, they are presented with a Technology Selector page; here the user is presented with means to select any number of technologies based on specific cognitive Challenge families, or individual cognitive challenges within these families, or based on their characteristics of: Disruptiveness, Sensory and Environment . Users may also select individual technologies to hone and refine their selection before submitting to visualise on the subsequent interactive timelines.

Users can also simultaneously display brief event descriptions on all timeline charts summarising what each event displayed is.

Users can also display further additional information drawn from the underlying data files displayed as value-added information tool-tips

Users are able to simultaneously ‘snap’ all timelines that are displayed on the same sub-time interval if required. Simply modify the selected time interval on one technology timeline to the interval required, then click the light blue circle to the lower left of that modified chart. All other timelines displayed will update their displayed time views to that of the selected timeline chart. Users can then revert all timelines back to their previous time views by clicking the same blue circle icon (now with a tick inside) to reset and revert to the previous views.

Users may also hide and show an individual timeline if they want to simplify the window display. Simply click the upwards-pointing arrow icon to the top-right of any chart to roll it up out of view. Click the same icon again to return that timeline to view.

Clicking the technology icon to the left of the deep purple title banner will open the information page specific to the technology selected.