A Nobel Prize for Charts

The recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize 2007 are Al Gore and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. While the decision is undoubtedly a political one (not unlike this year's Nobel Literature Prize), Gore has made a huge impact with his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. A large part of that comes from his use of graphs and charts.

The charts and the underlying data have of course been the subject of much scrutiny and ridicule, mostly from people who do not agree with the message of the movie. A thorough critique of these is certainly in order, but the fascinating thing is that these abstract charts help to further his story. Similar to Hans Rosling's talk (which I will keep linking to until everybody has watched it at least five times), the visual presentation of abstract data is what gets the message across - even if the representation is itself rather abstract.

Visualization and information graphics are excellent tools for presentation, and their impact is being felt in the world. Visualization has to step out of the ivory tower and become aware of its power. We need to get the message out!

Posted by Robert Kosara on October 12, 2007.

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Comments

Tony says…

That is a well designed graph! Notice how you don't see chartjunk, gridlines, pictures, gauges, stop lights, orbs, pie charts, etc. Simply, data visualization at its best! I also like the use of props (lift) for further reinforcement.

Next Project: Weather Control says…

At times, global warming being a reality seems a bit suspect. I live in the Pacific NW, and last winter was COLD! I was really close to writing Al Gore personally and decalring that it had to be BS, because I was freezing my nose off. Well, colder and far more precipitous winters are a product of global warming, so perhaps that's direct evidence that it is happening. A measure of weather control may be in order, by reducing emissions across the board so that there's less massive snow falls. The result of more snow fall is more runoff in the spring months, which creates floods, and we all watched what happened in the midwest this spring, and that's going to happen even more if it continues. Massive floods being the rule rather than the exception is not a pleasant thing to contemplate, and this is hard for me to admit - that maybe we should give Al a little more credence. The only person I could think of I'd want to listen to less, as far as former VPs go is Quayle (and after Gore's involvement with that whole PMRC business, I find him pretty annoying). It is really distasteful to even the most cyncial to admit a political figure having a message worth listening to, Al Gore being the one is even harder to admit to, but the fact is that we do have to reduce our impact as a species on the planet, and though I think that him and the UN team (an even MORE annoying organization) getting a Nobel prize for GRAPHS, of all things seems weak, but they are calling attention to what is probably the BIGGEST dilemma facing the planet in the next century.

Robert Davies says…

I completely agree with you regarding visualization and information graphics, especially when it comes to data analysis and comparison. For an example lets look at the article: https://compacom.com/comparisons/where-can-i-take-payday-loans-best-options Different lists, pictures with features, pros and cons, etc. "The visual presentation of abstract data is what gets the message across – even if the representation is itself rather abstract" - I think this is the main message of the article, I completely agree with everything.