This document discusses visual conversations with data through explanatory and exploratory data visualizations. It provides examples of visualization tools like ggplot2 and d3.js and techniques like exploiting hierarchical structure with treemaps, using pivot tables, and creating macroscopes. The document advocates having visual conversations with one's own data to discover patterns and differences in an emergent and interactive way.

1. Visual Conversations with Data
Tony Hirst
Dept of Communication and Systems,
The Open University

4. Figure 1 Sensor Traces
is a chart that’s designed to be read

5. IT TELLS A STORY

6. IT TELLS THE
ROBOT’S STORY

8. http://www.musik-therapie.at/PederHill/Structure&Plot.htm

11. Data
conversations

13. Conversations
around what’s not
there…

15. Presentation Graphics
vs.
Visual Analysis

16. Explanatory visualization
Data visualizations that are used to
transmit information or a point of
view from the designer to the
reader. Explanatory visualizations
typically have a specific “story” or
information that they are intended
to transmit.
Exploratory visualization
Data visualizations that are used by
the designer for self-informative
purposes to discover patterns,
trends, or sub-problems in a
dataset. Exploratory visualizations
typically don’t have an already-
known story.

17. Visual Analysis
or
Presentation
Graphics?

23. Algorithmic
Visualisation

24. ggplot2 (R)
d3.js (Javascript)

25. ggplot() +
geom_linerange(data = d1,aes(x= car, ymin = ymin,ymax = ymax)) +
geom_point(data = d2,aes(x= car, y= value,shape = variable),size = 2) +
opts(title="F1 2011 Korea nRace Summary
Chart",axis.text.x=theme_text(angle=-90, hjust=0)) +
labs(x = NULL, y = "Position", shape = "")

27. http://eagereyes.org/blog/2011/you-only-see-colors-you-can-name

28. Exploiting
Structure

30. Hierarchical data and treemaps - medals
Pivot tables

31. Macroscopes

33. aka “seasonal subseries”

35. Show me the difference…
Let me see the difference…

39. Can I see the difference..?

41. Where exactly..?

43. Emergent views
of structural
properties

44. [ Freemind ]

52. Have you had a visual
conversation with any
of YOUR data lately?

53. blog.ouseful.info
@psychemedia