My name is Susan Kistler and I am the Executive Director of the American Evaluation Association. An avid interest of mine is in data visualization – how to make data more accessible through graphical representation. Please note, the following represents my own interests and not an endorsement by AEA.
Hot Tip: Periodic Table of Visualization Methods: Stuck in a rut visualizing your data? Making so many pie charts you might as well be cooking Thanksgiving dinner? Check out the Periodic Table of Visualization Methods for great ideas on ways to visualize data. It offers approximately 100 examples of data visualization options, arranged thematically as a periodic table. Warning: a printed version doesn’t do this justice. Play with it online where you can mouse-over each cell in the periodic table and see an example to get the juices flowing. http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html#. Also, you may want to look at the research behind it all via this academic paper about the Development of the Periodic Table: http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.pdf. And for the resources? Four websites for data visualization inspiration:
Rad Resource: FlowingData (Strength in Numbers): Great examples of data visualization from the author, Nathan Yau, a PhD statistics student with a background in design. He also compiles other data visualization resources and encourages sharing and open-source. http://flowingdata.com/
Rad Resource: Information Aesthetics (Where form follows data.): Maintained by Andrew Vande Moere at the University of Sydney, this site ‘collects projects that represent data or information in original or intriguing ways.’ His examples veer wildly from mapping the impact of global warming to a tour of the brain to stitching travel itineraries on postcards – food for thought! http://infosthetics.com/
Rad Resource: Visual Complexity: Focusing on visualizing complex networks, this site archives and annotates projects from around the world that use systems visualization tools. ‘the project’s main goal is to leverage a critical understanding of different visualization methods, across a series of disciplines, as diverse as Biology, Social Networks or the World Wide Web.’ http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/ Enjoy!
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For great examples of using interactive data visualization to display world trends, check out Gapminder’s site.
http://www.gapminder.org/world/#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=30;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=5.59290322580644;ti=2009$zpv;v=0$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj1jiMAkm
For great interactive data visualization displaying world trends, check out the Gapminder webiste. You can create your own graphs using their data at http://www.gapminder.org/data/.
Enjoy!
Graphics used by the Washington Post and the New York Times, such as http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/business/foreign-held-us-debt/ found at the flowingdata.com site allow the reader to quickly get the overall picture and to dig deeper for more detail. These interactive data displays hold more information than can be obtained through static graphic displays commonly used.
Marty Henry
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I LOVE GOOD. My local bookstore stopped carrying it and I thought that perhaps they had gone to online-only (frankly, it’s difficult conceptually to reconcile their progressive/green messaging with a magazine printed on beautiful heavy stock so I’m waiting for the untimely demise of the print version).
Their information graphics consistently make me think – and critique (some are definitely much better than others both in terms of making people care about the data as well as in terms of accuracy of portrayal). Great for inspiration.
Susan, another great 365 post! Being a visual learner and subscriber to Good Magazine, I would suggest that AEA members check out the incredible data visualizations that Good and Good readers put together every month. Here’s the link to the magazine: http://www.good.is/ And here’s a link to an “Infographic” on “Who Has Given the Most to Haiti”: http://www.good.is/post/transparency-who-has-given-the-most-to-haiti/ Here’s another on “The Rise of Walking and Biking”: http://www.good.is/post/transparency-the-rise-of-walking-and-biking/ Under “Fun Stuff” on their web site, just go to Infographics for many, many more.
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Michael, I’ll email you, but perhaps we might put together a session on data visualization for the 2010 conference?
Others with interest?
Susan, I’ve been following and assimilating DataViz thinking for the past five plus years. I have an exhaustive set of links, contacts, and literature on this topic. I’d love to collaborate with you and any others interested in this virtually exploding field in any fashion that is appropriate.
How would you suggest I and we best proceed? Please contact we directly if we should first chat offline.
Susan,
I am so adding your list of links to the must read and incorporate for 2010. Looking forward to the first opportunity to do some analysis. Thanks!
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