Data/Visualization - Digital Center Cohort - 13_0222

Data/Visualization

Jeffrey LancasterEmerging Technologies Coordinator

Science & Engineering Library, Columbia University

[email protected]@j_lancaster

Why Visualize?

“You can lie and cheat with data visualization.

“There is an inherent trust in the form.

“Graphs are scientific!”

- Jer Thorp -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix3grNuYxpA (27:50)

Why Visualize?

Datavis is easy; the mechanics of it are known. Making an account is easy.

But that doesn’t tell you what happened. Narrative is harder.


Why Visualize?

“The Ohh-Ahh Principle:Ohh! = Visual

Ahh! = Learning

“Good datavis requires a balance of Ohh! and Ahh!”

- Jer Thorp -


Why Visualize?

“Uncertainty in visualization can obfuscate meaning to the reader.”

- Jer Thorp -


Activity

What kind of data do you use/create?

What is important about that data?

Who are the actors involved in making that data?

What is the meaning of the data?

What would you like to emphasize about that data?

Datavis? No. Information graphic? Yes.

A bunch of good datavis

See Tufte.

A bunch of good datavis

Datavis toolshttp://selection.datavisualization.ch/http://visual.lyhttp://flowingdata.com/

http://selection.datavisualization.ch/

http://selection.datavisualization.ch/

http://visual.ly/

http://flowingdata.com/

http://flowingdata.com/

A bunch of bad datavis

http://simplystatistics.org/2012/11/26/the-statisticians-at-fox-news-use-classic-and-novel-graphical-techniques-to-lead-with-data



The y-axis has been truncated to ‘magnify’ differences in values

A bunch of bad data(vis)


A few words on design

Color, line, shape, space, layout, graphics, motion, time, etc.

ColorConsiderations:• Color relationships: e.g. complementary, primary, secondary, tertiary

ColorConsiderations:• Color relationships: e.g. complementary, primary, secondary, tertiary• Color properties: e.g. saturation, tint, hue, shade

ColorConsiderations:• Color relationships: e.g. complementary, primary, secondary, tertiary• Color properties: e.g. saturation, tint, hue, shade• Color meaning: e.g. hot, cold

ColorConsiderations:• Color relationships: e.g. complementary, primary, secondary, tertiary• Color properties: e.g. saturation, tint, hue, shade• Color meaning: e.g. hot, cold• Color blindness: e.g. red-green

LineLine thickness can:• Improve the ‘designerness’ of a graphic• Emphasize differences• Emphasize distances• Obscure variance in data points

Motion & TimeTime can be a 4th dimension used to visualize data• Can time mean anything other than time (a.k.a. chronology)?• How to embed in a static document?• What are the difficulties of presenting an visualization that changes over

time?• When are motion and time inappropriate?

Hacking d3.jshttp://d3js.org/http://bost.ocks.org/mike/uberdata/

http://d3js.org/

http://d3js.org/

http://bost.ocks.org/mike/uberdata/

http://bost.ocks.org/mike/uberdata/

Data/Visualization

Next time: Markup, APIsThen: GIS

Jeffrey LancasterEmerging Technologies Coordinator

Science & Engineering Library, Columbia University

[email protected]@j_lancaster

Data/Visualization - Digital Center Cohort - 13_0222

Technology

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