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Blog 2021

Teaser image for the video, The Science of Pie Charts

Robert Kosara / November 16, 2021

New Video: The Science of Pie Charts

The common explanation for how pie charts work is that we read them by angle. That of course would mean that donut charts would be bad, because you can’t see the angle when you take away the center of the pie. Changing the radius of a slice wouldn’t matter though, because that doesn’t change the angle. But there is no evidence that angle is how we read pie charts, quite the opposite actually. In this new video, I walk through five reasons why angle is not how we read pies, and what that means for other things we like to assume about them.

[Read more…] about New Video: The Science of Pie Charts
people discuss about graphs and rates

Robert Kosara / October 26, 2021

Paper: From Jam Session to Recital: Synchronous Communication and Collaboration Around Data in Organizations

Who are the people who use data and visualization as part of their work every day? In particular, how do people use data as part of meetings, to present to others, to discuss their findings and recommendations, etc.? My colleague Matt Brehmer and I ran a pair of studies to find out.

[Read more…] about Paper: From Jam Session to Recital: Synchronous Communication and Collaboration Around Data in Organizations
"You're doing great, sweetie"

Robert Kosara / October 1, 2021

EagerEyes Turns 15

EagerEyes is 15 years old today! Rather than look back at 15 years of visualization and blogging (though I will do a little of that too), I want to reflect a bit on what blogging means today and where things are going.

[Read more…] about EagerEyes Turns 15
A Bar Chart That Hurts

Robert Kosara / July 22, 2021

New video: Chart Appreciation, Iraq’s Bloody Toll by Simon Scarr

How do you make people not just see numbers when looking at a chart, but feel something? This chart of the number of deaths during the Iraq war has always given me a visceral response like no other, and it’s still as powerful as when it was made almost ten years ago. So I made a chart appreciation video to explain what I think is so great about it.

[Read more…] about New video: Chart Appreciation, Iraq’s Bloody Toll by Simon Scarr

Robert Kosara / June 27, 2021

When the Wrong Chart Is the Right Choice

We all agree that the direction of the bars in a bar chart should correspond to the direction in which the values grow. Or do we? When it comes to running or audio recording and processing, it turns out that the seemingly wrong choice can be the right one – because a more semantically meaningful representation can help us understand and use the data much more easily.

[Read more…] about When the Wrong Chart Is the Right Choice
Linear vs. Quadratic Change Thumbnail

Robert Kosara / June 15, 2021

New Video: Linear vs. Quadratic Change

Scaling objects to represent a value is a key part of visualization, but it’s not without its pitfalls. Especially when it comes to fancy infographic bar charts, it can easily distort the value’s appearance. Why that is, and where else this can happen, isn’t always obvious. In my new video, I show how it happens and how to do it right – and how this issue inspired ISOTYPE.

[Read more…] about New Video: Linear vs. Quadratic Change
Nightingale Thumbnail

Robert Kosara / May 11, 2021

New video: Florence Nightingale’s Famous Rose Chart (aka “Coxcomb”)

It’s Florence Nightingale’s 201st birthday tomorrow! Since I missed her 200th, I figured I’d make a video about her famous chart. What made it tick? What was it about? Who was Nightingale, anyway?

[Read more…] about New video: Florence Nightingale’s Famous Rose Chart (aka “Coxcomb”)

Robert Kosara / April 20, 2021

New video: Chart Appreciation, Black vs. White Boys and The Punishing Reach of Racism

Dots fly across the screen, some of them moving up, some down. They represent black and white boys, and how their income differs from that of their parents and from each other. It’s a great way to show this data in an engaging way and without having to explain percentiles. This is a chart appreciation.

[Read more…] about New video: Chart Appreciation, Black vs. White Boys and The Punishing Reach of Racism

Robert Kosara / April 13, 2021

The Dearth of Videos about Visualization

To appropriate the famous Martin Mull quote, writing about visualization is like dancing about architecture. Why are we using written words, like this blog post, to talk about visualization instead of moving images, like in a video?

[Read more…] about The Dearth of Videos about Visualization

Robert Kosara / March 14, 2021

eagereyesTV: Minard’s Famous “Napoleon’s March” Chart – What It Shows, What It Doesn’t

This chart is a staple in every visualization course and many visualization talks. But what does it show, and what does it leave out? There’s a lot more to Napoleon’s Russian Campaign and to Charles Minard’s work than this one chart. My new video looks beyond the surface of what is perhaps the most famous chart out there.

[Read more…] about eagereyesTV: Minard’s Famous “Napoleon’s March” Chart – What It Shows, What It Doesn’t
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More Blog 2021 Articles

  • New Video: The Science of Pie Charts
  • Paper: From Jam Session to Recital: Synchronous Communication and Collaboration Around Data in Organizations
  • EagerEyes Turns 15
  • New video: Chart Appreciation, Iraq’s Bloody Toll by Simon Scarr
  • When the Wrong Chart Is the Right Choice

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