Common mistakes in data visualization Amedee Van Gasse BarCampGhent3 19 December, 2009
$ whoami Current day job:
MS Office/VBA specialist
Desktop & Mail Security (Antivirus, Spam,...)
Geek stuff:
Ubuntu tweaking
Drupal ( http://foutparkeerders.be  - with  @peterdedecker )
Tik vzw ( http://tik.be )
[email_address] http://amedee.be http://twitter.com/amedee http://be.linkedin.com/in/amedee http://facebook.com/amedee.vangasse
The power of data visualization Chinese proverb:  One Picture is Worth Ten Thousand Words
The Fast-Food Information Age
Pr0n for the stats junk Pointy-Haired Boss
Twitter: Infograph of the day ( @bnox )
What Makes Good Information Design? Interestingness
Function
Form
Integrity
With Great Power... ... Comes Great Responsibility Look for the Hidden Agenda
Trust No One
Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics
Let's just face it:
Why do we lie? Charts, infographics,... are only a simplified representation of a complex reality
Compare with maps: they are also (white) lies
Used to convice others
Because it looks cool
Because we don't know any better
The axis are (not) your allies Y axis starts at 500. Why 500?
Gradients
Grey on grey
Original chart has animation...
Why? December = 1/5 size of January =  CRISIS!!!
Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt
Convince employees of needed budget cuts
Or... just blind faith in Excel???
What really happened 2008 up to Q3 was an exceptionally good year

Common Mistakes In Data Visualization

Editor's Notes

  • #5 Interestingness: relevant, meaningfull, new Function: easiness, usefulness, useability, fit Form: beatty, structure, appearance Integrity: truth, consistency, honesty, accuracy Interesting + function = experiment Function + form = sketch Form + integrity = eye-candy Integrity + interesting = proof of concept Not interesting = boring Not functional = useless No form = ugly No integrity = rubbish