This document discusses how data tells stories and can provide insights. It provides examples of how data can show property values in cities, effectiveness of prostate cancer screenings, and influence of features on housing prices. The document also discusses how our eyes process visual data and find meaning, and challenges of ensuring data visualizations are not misleading. It promotes using data visualizations to make fair comparisons and find unique insights in large datasets.

1. Your data tells stories
Charalampos Xanthopoulakis PDEng
Data Visualizations Architect
infographeo.com

2. Charalampos
Xanthopoulakis
Electrical
Engineering
Software
Technology
Software
Architect
Data
Visualizations

4. actually
isall around
data

5. data tells you how active you are every day

6. data tells you how active you are every minute

7. data tells you how to become active

8. data tells you how to stay active

9. data shows you the potential
“How can we identify similar patients in big chunks of prostate
cancer patient data?”

10. data tells you
how we treat cancer

11. data tells you an inconvenient truth
• The United States Preventive Services Task Force analysed all
reported prostate cancer screening trials
• For every 1000 men ages 55 – 69, screened every 1 to 4 years
for 10 to 15 years:
– About 1 death would be avoided
– 120 men would have a false-positive test result
– 100 men would be diagnosed with prostate cancer
• 80 would be treated with surgery / radiation
– At least 60 would have serious complications

12. data shows you the beauty in irrationality

13. data shows the harmony
π

14. the harmony as art
π

15. data gives you ideas!
• “How much is my property actually worth?”
• One question leads to another
• How can I calculate the housing market value for a given neighborhood?
• What are the features (surface area, construction year etc.) in each city block?
• How are public spaces (sea front, historic areas, schools) affecting market value?
• How have prices changed in the years of the financial crisis?
• In the end, where is actually the best place to invest in?

16. data tells you the price of city neighborhoods

17. data tells you the property values in your city

18. data tells you the expensive properties

19. data tells you the age of your city properties

20. data tells you things you (didn’t?) know

21. “It feels like all horoscopes say more or less
the same thing. But is it actually true?”

26. "Αγαπημένα μου, παρθενάκια, μπορεί να γυρνάτε όλη την ώρα σαν μέλισσες,
σήμερα όμως πρέπει να δώστε περισσότερο χρόνο στην σχέση σας! Πρόσωπα
που σας προκαλούν έντονο ενδιαφέρον, μπορεί τελικά να δημιουργήσουν
προβλήματα στα ερωτικά σας. Δείξτε προσοχή στα οικονομικά σας. Ο Άρης
στον Ζυγό δημιουργεί εντάσεις στα επαγγελματικά σας άλλα και ευκαιρίες.
Ζήστε τη στιγμή και αφήστε τα προβλήματα στην άκρη για μια μέρα, το αξίζετε
άλλωστε!"
Let’s build a horoscope!

27. We engage with images
long before we learn to read

28. The ability to make sense of large volumes of messy data and find
unique insights in them is one of the hottest skills in the job market,
according to LinkedIn.
More data has been created since 2013 than in all of human history
before that date.

33. Our eyes don’t follow a specific order

34. Our eyes first focus on what stands out

35. Our eyes can handle a few things at once

36. We try to find meaning in the data

37. We are guided by cultural conventions

38. We see data through figures …

39. We see data better through comparisons

40. data visualizations may be misleading

41. Use data in fair visual comparisons

42. Before

43. After

44. Before

45. After

46. The Challenge

47. Redesign the election results website

48. d3js.org
infographeo.com
informationisbeautiful.net
vega.github.io/vega
visualcinnamon.com