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Minimum Wage Abstraction 1

How Much Data Do You Really Need?

By Robert Kosara On May 24, 2012 · 6 Comments · In Journalism

One of the many things Malofiej 20 made me wonder about is how we present data and what we expect from such a presentation. Very often, we essentially narrate the process of discovery, but is that really the best way? And how much data do we need to show when making a point? Just because we start out with lots of data does not mean we really need to show it all.

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Tableau Public Viz of the Day

By Robert Kosara On May 14, 2012 · Add Comment · In Blog 2012

There is no shortage of sites and twitter accounts that point to a new visualization every day, some even more often than that. So why start another one? Tableau’s Viz of the Day is unique in that it draws from the wealth of Tableau Public, and all its picks are interactive visualizations with multiple, linked views.

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A Glimpse Into the New York Times Graphics Department

By Robert Kosara On May 2, 2012 · 9 Comments · In Journalism

How does the New York Times Graphics Department produce the fantastic work that wins so many awards? To get a taste of the secret sauce, all you need to do is track down their Twitter accounts and blogs, where they openly share sketches and talk about process. Here is a guide.

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Salubrious Nation

Playable Data

By Robert Kosara On April 29, 2012 · Add Comment · In Journalism

How do you engage people with data? How do you make them care and pay attention and remember anything about a particular piece of data? One way is dressing the data up as an information graphic. Another might be to get people to play a little game with the data. Nick Diakopoulos and colleagues have built a fascinating research prototype of what this might look like.

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EuroVis 2012

A EuroVis Survival Guide, Part 1

On April 25, 2012 By Robert Kosara
EuroVis 2012 is only about six weeks away, so if you haven't booked your travel or hotel, now is the time. Here are a few pointers on where to stay, transportation options in Vienna, etc.
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Why Is Her Paycheck Smaller? by Hannah Fairfield and Graham Roberts

The Explanatory Power of Data Points

On April 22, 2012 By Robert Kosara

As newspaper graphics go, scatterplots are a fairly advanced technique. They tend to show a reasonably large amount of data as single points, and they require the reader to have an idea what to look for. Most newspapers never bother using scatterplots for that reason, which is really too bad. With some explanation, a scatterplot can be a very effective means of displaying data, and in particular to allow the user to drill into the data a little bit.

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visually-wait-is-over

Visual.ly Create

On April 17, 2012 By Robert Kosara

Information graphics are a big and growing business, but the tools that are used for making them are little better than paper and pencil. That is particularly problematic when it comes to infographics that are heavy on data, which not only require a lot of work, but also many repeating steps that could be handled by a machine. Visual.ly’s recently launched Create tool takes care of some of this work to create better and more flexible information graphics.

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April is Visualization Challenge Time!

On April 4, 2012 By Robert Kosara

While there has been some criticism of a particular type of visualization challenge recently, there are many other challenges that are organized well and provide good opportunities for people to work on their skills. Two challenges in particular have caught my attention, and are presented here with the official EagerEyes Quality Seal and Stamp of Approval.

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What Does It Mean to Inform?

On April 1, 2012 By Robert Kosara

Information graphics are meant to carry meaning, so that readers can learn something about data, facts, or processes. But what does it mean to inform? And how does the goal of informing in information graphics differ from analytical visualization?

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Malofiej 20

On March 25, 2012 By Robert Kosara

Malofiej was an exhausting week with many great conversations, fascinating insights, and great company. My sleep-deprived and jet-lagged brain is buzzing with things to write about, and this is only the first of several articles about or inspired by Malofiej. I start with a discussion on why I think The New York Times did so well this year, and what other newspapers can do to catch up.

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Upcoming Travel: SxSW and Malofiej

On March 8, 2012 By Robert Kosara

I will be at South-by-Southwest (SxSW) this year to speak on a panel, and also take part in the Malofiej awards and summit, where I will be a judge and speaker. Here are some pointers for those of you who might be at one (or both!) of those events.

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A Storytelling Experiment

On March 7, 2012 By Robert Kosara

I need two minutes of your time. By clicking on the following link, you will be taken to one of several slightly different versions of a visual story about the development of the gross domestic product (GDP) in different countries. Watch it, play with it, and if you like it: share it. You will help us understand which types of storytelling work and which don’t. There is no annoying survey, just a little story.

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Victorian Stove

The Three Types of Chart Junk

On March 4, 2012 By Robert Kosara

A recent posting on Dmitry Fadeyev’s design blog got me thinking about decoration and chart junk again. Fadeyev talks about the Victorian obsession with ornamentation, but he could equally be talking about the way charts and infographics are often decorated. A short excursion to the 1850s might help shed some light on the issue of chart junk.

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Obama Job Loss Chart

The Bikini Chart

On February 29, 2012 By Robert Kosara

The Obama administration released a chart a while ago that shows job losses during the last year of the Bush administration and the first year after Obama took office. The chart is simple yet effective in the way it communicates a message. It also has some very subtle design elements that communicate a much more negative undertone than is immediately obvious.

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Many-Eyes Stats

Quo Vadis, Many Eyes?

On February 26, 2012 By Robert Kosara

Remember when visualization for the masses was all the rage, back in 2007? We were so young and hopeful. Many Eyes and Swivel were the harbingers of a new age of data literacy and well-informed debate. Visualization was going to be social and change the world. Alas, it was not to last. Swivel is gone, and Many Eyes clearly seen its best days. This is despite the fact that interest in visualization is growing, and it turns out that Many Eyes is as busy now as never before. I have scraped some data from the site that shows that despite the lack of updates and new features, people’s use of it is still increasing. The data also gives some interesting insights into what people use it for.

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Another Metaphor for Visualization: Writing

On February 21, 2012 By Robert Kosara

Andrew Gelman recently wrote a blog posting in which he draws an interesting comparison between writing styles and graphics styles. I think he’s on to something, and the comparison can be taken a bit further to illustrate some common misunderstandings around visualization.

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