1. Developing Frameworks for Data Representation Marcus Lem, MD, MHSc, FRCPC Social Networks Analysis and Visualization for Public Safety Workshop Wachtberg-Werthoven, Germany, Oct. 18, 2005

2. SCIENCE FINDS, INDUSTRY APPLIES, MAN CONFORMS. Hall of Science, Chicago World’s Fair, 1933

3. Framework  Who - Public Health  What - Information analysis & transfer  Why - Strategies & interventions  How - Appropriate data representation

4. Disciplines: Arts and Sciences  Public Health  Statistical graphics  Computer Science  Decision making  Cartography

5. Public Health: Levels of Decision Making  Political  Health Policy (Strategic)  Public Health (Operational)  Clinical (Tactical)

6. Public Health Perspective  ↑ Information sharing (i.e.. not superiority)  ↑ Comprehensibility to management  ↑ Utility for decision making  Conform to standards (e.g.. WHO)

8. Public Health: Information Needs  Establish links / connections  Directionality  Strength of association  Time elements  Identify key players / problem areas  Suggest interventions  Express degree or uncertainty  Alternate explanation → intervention

10. Principles of Graphical Excellence  Substance, statistics, design  Clarity, precision, efficiency  Greatest number of ideas in the shortest time with the least components in the smallest space (data density)  Multivariate  Truth

12. Information Display - Poor

13. Information Display - Good

17. Computer Science: Ergonomic Quality - 1  Primary criteria Speed Accuracy Pleasurability Influenced by secondary criteria

18. Ergonomic Criteria - 2  Secondary criteria Learning and recall time Short and long term memory load Fatigue and error susceptibility Naturalness and boundedness Effect of context Effect of user experience and knowledge

19. Colour Palette

20. Intuitive Framework 1: Hot to Cold Spectrum

21. Intuitive Framework 2: Mood / Expression

22. Intuitive Framework 3: Verbal Expressions  Case fatality (“drop dead”)  Depletion e.g.. CD4 (“burn out”)  Pandemic spread (“tidal wave”)  Frameworks may be culture-specific and need to be tested against identified audience

23. Decision Making: Optimal Choice Models  A set of alternative courses of action (acts)  A set of possible events associated with each course of action  A value to be associated with each act- event combination  The degree of knowledge with regard to the chance of each of the events occurring

24. Criteria for Decision under Certainty  Maximization  Minimization  “Satisficing”

25. Criteria for Decision under Uncertainty  Pessimist (maximin / minimax)  Optimist (maximax / minimin)  Pessimist-Optimist mixture - weighting  Maximization / Minimization  “Satisficing”

28. Cartographic Principles  U1- reality as seen by cartographer  S1- cartographer  L- language, symbols, rules  M- map  S2- map user  U2- reality as seen by the map user  Ic- cartographic information  Simplicity of design and complexity of data

32. fx13 f030 f008 f103 f104 m107 f006 m106 f002 m112 mx04 m211 f021 m212 m018 f023 fx21 m301 f024 m200 m546 mx06 f541 m014 f013 m523 mx01 m102 mx05 fx12 f536 m101 f007 fx21 mx11 fx03 mx12 mx10

33. BC SK ON ND

34. Grudin’s law: When those who benefit are not those who do the work, then technology is likely to fail or, at least be subverted.

35. Get it right or let it alone. The conclusions you jump to may be your own. James Thurber, Further Fables for Our Time (New York 1956)

36. References  The visual display of quantitative information. Edward R. Tufte. Graphics Press, 1983.  Things that make us smart – defending human attributes in the age of machines. Donald A. Norman. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1993  Statistical graphics – Design principles and practices. Calvin F. Schmid. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1983.  The human factors of graphic interaction tasks and techniques. James D. Foley, Victor L. Wallace, Peggy Chan. Dept of Computer Science, University of Kansas, 1981.  Statistics for decisions – An elementary introduction. Gerald E. Thompson. Little, Brown and Company, Inc., 1972

37. Acknowledgements  Ann Jolly  Public Health Agency of Canada  Ali M. Binsilim  Communicable Disease Control Division, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Health Canada

38. Questions? ?