Blog 2011

Visual.ly‘s launch today made big waves, but a lot of people seemed to be disappointed by what they saw. The problem is that what you can see on the website is not the really exciting part of Visual.ly. What is much more interesting is how they want to turn the creation of data-based graphics from a tedious manual process into something fast and flexible. That has a lot more potential impact than you might realize at first. [Read more…] about Visual.ly: The Future of Data-Based Infographics

A common criticism of charts is that they are filled with chart junk, and that removing the extraneous elements would make the chart better and stronger. That argument works for analytical charts, but not for charts that are used for presentation. The way memory works suggests that chart junk is actually very useful to not only get a point across, but make sure the reader remembers it. [Read more…] about Want to Make A Chart Memorable? Add Junk

The deadline for the VisWeek 2011 Doctoral Colloquium is only a few days away! This is your chance to get your work reviewed and discussed in detail by some of the most experienced researchers in information visualization, scientific visualization, or visual analytics. There is also a stipend to help with your conference registration and travel costs. [Read more…] about VisWeek 2011 Doctoral Colloquium

A metaphor I’ve seen used to describe visualization a few times now is a camera: like a camera, visualization can be used to do good and bad things; like a camera, it requires skill to use well; like a camera, it allows you to discover new ways of seeing the world. It’s actually quite a useful metaphor, and one that merits some exploration. [Read more…] about The Camera Metaphor of Visualization Use

Can different ways of showing the same data lead to different decisions? And can those decisions be about something important, like continuing a clinical trial? A study published in 1999 shows that they can, and the way the data is represented does make a difference. [Read more…] about Visualization Choice Influences Decisions

I don’t have to link to infosthetics or flowingdata, you know those. But there are many others that are not as well known, but often contain really interesting work. They offer thoughtful criticism, discussions of the cognitive aspects of visualization, or designers’ perspectives on visualization. Here is a list of six of them. [Read more…] about Six Niche Visualization Blogs

We criticize flashy infographics and bad visualizations, but we also want to attract viewer’s attention. We strive for accuracy and efficiency, but we also want to tell stories. We dislike chart junk, but we like beautiful charts. We need to find a middle ground. [Read more…] about A Middle Ground

While Nike+ is a neat app and website that gets a lot of people running, it becomes limiting quite quickly: the site is slow and tedious to use, and the cuteness factor wears off fairly quickly to reveal very limited usefulness. There are lots of better services, but many people are reluctant to switch unless they can take their data with them. EagerFeet was designed to let you do just that: you can export all your run GPS data as GPX files, which you can then import into other programs and websites. And even though it’s still April, this is a real site and not a joke. [Read more…] about EagerFeet.org: Free Your Nike+ GPS Data

Tableau made a huge mistake when they pulled a visualization of WikiLeaks statistics from their Tableau Public website a few months ago. But they’ve used the opportunity to develop a new policy for content posted there that is very clear and based on the idea of free speech. This removes a big obstacle for journalists who want to use the service: they no longer have to fear that their hard work might be destroyed because somebody does not like it. [Read more…] about Tableau Public’s New Data Policy