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Why the Obsession with Tables?

By Robert Kosara On May 1, 2013 · 3 Comments · In Blog 2013

Lots of data are still presented and released as tables. But why, when we know that visual representations are so much easier to read and understand? Eric Newburger from the U.S. Census Bureau has an interesting theory.

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Change, shown using lines or bars

Continuous Values and Baselines

By Robert Kosara On April 28, 2013 · 6 Comments · In Basics

One of the most common mistakes people make when creating charts is to cut off the vertical axis. But why is that a problem? And what can you do when you need to show data where the amount of change is small compared to the absolute values?

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infovis template

Meet @InfoVis_Ebooks, Your Source for Random InfoVis Paper Snippets

By Robert Kosara On April 21, 2013 · 1 Comment · In Service

Are you looking for inspiration while writing a paper or grant? Do you feel that there is a lack of information visualization content on Twitter? Is your timeline too empty and slow? Follow @InfoVis_Ebooks, a Twitter account that posts random pieces of text from infovis papers.

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More bars

Data: Continuous vs. Categorical

By Robert Kosara On April 17, 2013 · 3 Comments · In Basics

Data comes in a number of different types, which determine what kinds of mapping can be used for them. The most basic distinction is that between continuous (or quantitative) and categorical data, which has a profound impact on the types of visualizations that can be used.

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How to Keep Following eagereyes After the End of Google Reader

On April 7, 2013 By Robert Kosara

With Google Reader shutting down July 1st, now is the time to find alternative ways to follow your favorite blogs. For this one, you can now get new postings on Facebook and through a dedicated Twitter feed, in addition to the RSS feed. See below for some RSS aggregator/reader alternatives to Google Reader.

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Out of Sight, Out of Mind

The Revolution Will Be Visualized

On April 3, 2013 By Robert Kosara

In the 1970s, it was the protest songs. In the 1980s, it was the anti-war movies. Today, the protest is no longer happening in songs or movies. Today, it’s online, based on data, and using visualization.

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Snapshot of Unemployment Benefits

Glimpses of Data: The CBO’s Snapshots

On March 24, 2013 By Robert Kosara

Arguments in data visualization are so fierce because the stakes are so low is a great zinger that I’ve heard a few times recently. But it’s not always true. Data visualization influences important decisions every day. The Congressional Budget Office’s new snapshots are but one example.

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Study on Creative Data Visualization

On March 22, 2013 By Robert Kosara

To explore how we can make it easier to create new visualization designs, we are running a study based on a new approach, called visualization primitives. It lets you map data to the properties of objects like rectangles and ellipses. Build something with data, have fun, and help us figure out if it works!

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Minimal Bars

A Better Definition of Chart Junk

On March 17, 2013 By Robert Kosara

Maximizing the data-ink ratio sounds like a good idea, but when actually followed to the letter produces terrible and nonsensical results. Here is a more reasonable definition of chart junk that does away with the pretense of a mathematical formula and puts some common sense back into the question of good chart design.

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Tableau Desktop Now Free For University Students

On March 13, 2013 By Robert Kosara

If you are a student at a university, you can now get a free license for the full version of Tableau Desktop. No matter if you use it in class or for research, this is the full version that does not restrict the amount of data or the kind of connectivity (like Tableau Public does). The license is good for one year and can be renewed as long as you are enrolled at university.

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Cloning Teaser

Visualization Makes Things Real

On March 10, 2013 By Robert Kosara

Vision is the sense we most identify with: it tells us where we are, who we are talking to, what we are doing. It defines our world like no other sense. What we can see is real, for better or worse.

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Wealth Inequality in America

Data Storytelling in Video

On March 6, 2013 By Robert Kosara

I’m not a fan of video. I don’t spend time randomly surfing YouTube, and when given the choice between reading an article and watching a video, I’ll read. The reason is that videos often don’t work well for me: they’re too fast or too slow, they take a long time to get to the point, they don’t let me skip around and browse easily. I’d rather be in control than having the information pre-packaged for me. But two examples have surfaced in the last few days that show data visualization can tell a very effective story in well-designed, well-paced videos.

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Otto Neurath: Home and Factory Weaving in England

The ISOTYPE

On March 3, 2013 By Robert Kosara

Communicating data visually is not only about perception and precision, but also understanding. ISOTYPE was developed to bridge the gap between showing data in a way that’s easy to read and at the same time easier to understand than unadorned bar charts.

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The Halfway House To Nowhere

On February 20, 2013 By Robert Kosara

What is visualization for? Is it a tool help us understand data and the world, and to make better decisions because of that? Or is it just a debugging tool, a stepping stone towards intelligent machines?

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Review: Scott Christianson, 100 Diagrams That Changed the World

On February 14, 2013 By Robert Kosara

I recently came across this book that claims to collect the 100 most important diagrams in the history of mankind. It’s a good collection, with many wonderful examples, though it has its flaws.

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Computer-Storytelling-teaser

Paper: Storytelling, The Next Step for Visualization

On February 3, 2013 By Robert Kosara

Visualization is often considered to consist of three phases: exploration, analysis, and presentation. While the former two topics are covered well in the literature, there has been very little work specifically on presentation. In an upcoming paper, Jock Mackinlay and I argue that presentation, and in particular storytelling and communication of data, are the logical next step for the field, and provide some research directions.

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