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Subject:RE: Data visualization rules, 1915 From:"Janoff, Steven" <Steven -dot- Janoff -at- ga -dot- com> To:TechWrl list <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, Jay Maechtlen <techwriter -at- laserpubs -dot- com> Date:Wed, 13 Aug 2014 17:10:44 -0700
I appreciate the reference.
I do have the sense that the author of that piece is making more out of it than there is, but maybe not.
Illustrations would certainly have helped their list of rules!
The most interesting one to me is the first one: "Avoid using areas or volumes when representing quantities. Presentations read from only one dimension are the least likely to be misinterpreted."
And Dr. Hill's comment is interesting because on the one hand I find I want to refute him about things, but on the other, he might have a point: "I should agree to this. It seems necessary, however, to use areas or volumes when there is a wide disparity between the quantities which are compared, one quantity being very many times greater than another, so that in a comparison by lines or bars, either one bar would have to be very long, extending beyond the limits of any ordinary page, or the other would be so small as to be hardly perceptible."
I'm reminded of the pie chart showing how much disk space is used/free on your Windows computer. I find that visual very helpful. On Win7 (maybe others too, I forget) they also show it as a horizontal rectangular bar. I like the pie chart better!
The rest of the rules seem to me to be similar to what you would see in any illustration in a math textbook.
But I think the rules they were trying to spell out were for a very specific type of graphic, namely a census chart.
But those are only thoughts on first reading. I think this is a provocative piece. At the least it can make you think about what's fundamental in even the most basic chart or illustration. And I'm thinking by "curve chart" they meant what you would get if you took the points on a discrete chart and connected them to form a smooth curve -- like if you take the "New York" chart in that first figure (center left) and draw a continuous curve connecting the ends of the horizontal bars.
Thanks for posting.
Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: On Behalf Of Jay Maechtlen
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2014 2:56 PM
To: TechWrl list
Subject: Data visualization rules, 1915
There was s discussion of infographics recently.
Personally, I thought the initial example wasn't an infographic at all.
But anyway, this really refers to the visual display of information - which is one important kind of infographic, right?
Subject: Sapping Attention: Data visualization rules, 1915
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 11:57:34 -0500
From:
Reply-To: Records Management Program <RECMGMT-L -at- LISTS -dot- UFL -dot- EDU>
To: RECMGMT-L -at- LISTS -dot- UFL -dot- EDU
Sapping Attention: Data visualization rules, 1915
In 1915, a year after the 1910 census's atlas was published, the Census
bureau circulated a memo to their advisors with a set of proposed rules for
graphical presentation. They are a sort of style guide for the Census in
particular, but they are obviously transferable to the general case.
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