Data Visualization Joseph Ryan ITS Research Computing November 8, 2012
On the agenda. 1. The “magic” hypothesis. 2. Three common goals. 3.How to get started. 4.Visualization tools for the web.
Goals
Successful visualizations depend on you And your audience And your goal(s) for your visualization
A Path
Who? What? Should? Who is my audience? Experts? Students? General public? What do I want to tell them? Space or time relationship? Multivariate system? Does this message belong in a visualization?
Ben Fry: How to Get Started Get some data. Organize and structure the data. Remove unnecessary(!) data. Use statistical methods to discover patterns. Choose a visualization style. literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.htmlhttp:// literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html Refine. Build interaction, if appropriate and possible.
Tools
Visualization Playgrounds Many Eyes OpenData ChartsBin
Google Chart API
D3.js
Summing Up Make sure data visualization is the right tool for the job Define audience, information to communicate first Choose a visualization Existing examples in knowledge area? Data to support this visualization? Tools and expertise to create it? Have fun Try breaking some rules Ask someone outside of your area for feedback!
Thank you! Joseph Ryan ITS Research Computing Ben Fry’s excellent Visualizing Data provided significant intellectual content to this presentation.