Dynamic Timelines:Visualizing Historical Information in Three Dimensions is the title of a masters thesis by Robin Kullberg. Robin wrote this when she was studying under Muriel Cooper at the MIT Media Lab's old design group, the Visible Language Workshop, or VLW. What I particularly like about this work, and other work from the VLW at this time (around 1996), is it's way of using 3D. Coming from a background of print media, the group was very careful, in Robin's case skeptical, about the use of three dimensional graphics. The group placed a big emphasis on providing seamless user navigation and meaningful context while maintaining legibility and avoiding disorientation.

NEW: a very informative demo video with voice-over from the designer is available online.