information visualisation - lecture 1

@wassxILV Informationsvisualisierungen

Information Visualisation

#viz_lnz

Information Visualisation

Lecture 1 - Foundations

ILV Informationsvisualisierungen #viz_lnz @wassx 2

Why Visualize?

"The first and main goal of any graphic and visualization is to be a tool for your eyes and brain to perceive what lies beyond their natural reach".

Alberto Cairo in "the functional art"


Knowledge transfer

www.nickmilton.com

http://www.nickmilton.com/2015/08/knowledge-transfer-wrong-metaphor.html


Knowledge transfer

http://imgur.com/gallery/S83PHzp




Analysis and exploration

http://xkcd.com/552/


Analysis and exploration

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_and_dependence

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_and_dependence


Planning and decision making

© The New Yorker Collection. 2002. Leo Cullum from cartoonbank.com.


Planning and decision making

http://wol.iza.org/articles/redesigning-pension-systems/long

http://wol.iza.org/articles/redesigning-pension-systems/long


Why Visualize?

• Visualisation leverages the incredible capabilities and bandwidth of the visual system to move a huge amount of information into the brain very quickly.

Designing Data Visualizations, Noah Iliinsky & Julie Steele, O'Reilly 2011


Why Visualize?


• Visualisation takes advantage of our brains built-in "software" to identify patterns and communicate relationships and meaning.



Why Visualize?



• Visualisation can inspire new questions and further exploration.



Why Visualize?




• Visualisation helps identify sub-problems.



Why Visualize?




• Visualisation helps identify sub-problems.

• Visualisation is really good for identifying trends and outliers, discovering or searching for interesting or specific data points in a larger field.



Why Visualize?

Move information from point A to B.


Exploratory vs Explanatory

ExploratoryPoint A is the dataset and point B is the designer's own mind.


Exploratory

"You have a whole bunch of data and you're not sure what's in it."

"This type of visualisation is typically part of the data analysis phase, and is used to find the story the data has to tell you."



Exploratory

http://www.messenger-education.org/workshops/MLA_topography_print_labels.jpg

Water Ice Data from Mercury


Exploratory vs Explanatory

ExplanatoryPoint A is the designer's mind and point B is the mind of the reader.


Explanatory

"You know what the data has to say, and you are trying to tell that story to somebody else."

"This type of visualisation is typically part of the presentation phase."



Explanatory

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/presscon12_multi.html

Water Ice Data from Mercury

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/news_room/presscon12_multi.html


Explanatory

http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-whats-warming-the-world/




From Information to Wisdom



1970's Richard Saul Wurman, Prof. of architecture in North Carolina, predicted oncoming information explosion needs professionals in organising data:



1970's Richard Saul Wurman, Prof. of architecture in North Carolina, predicted oncoming information explosion needs professionals in organising data:

"Information Architects"



Information Architect's main goal:

"Fight information anxiety"

Superhero by Mordok78www.deviantart.com

http://www.deviantart.com



Information Architect's main goal:

"Fight information anxiety"

„The black hole between data and knowledge“

aka

Superhero by Mordok78www.deviantart.com




Superhero by Mordok78 www.deviantart.com

• Structural design of shared information environments






• Combination of organisation, labelling, search, and navigation systems within websites and intranets







• The art and science of shaping information products and experiences to support usability and find-ability







• The art and science of shaping information products and experiences to support usability and find-ability

• An emerging discipline and community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape



From Information to WisdomDIKW Hierarchies

Unstructured Information Data

Outer world

Gathering and filteringFirst level of encoding



Unstructured Information Data Structured

Information

Outer world

Second level

of encoding


Communicators




Information Knowledge

Outer world

Second level

of encoding


Audiences decode

what is presented using

memories and experiences

Communicators




Information Knowledge Wisdom

Outer world

Second level

of encoding


In-depth understanding

and memorization

Audiences decode

what is presented using

memories and experiences

Audience

Communicators


From Information to WisdomFurther Literature

„Polar Bear Book“Peter Morville & Lois Rosenfeld


Summary

• Visualisation is a tool to transfer information • Different use cases (Exploratory vs. Explanatory) • Consider „information consumers“ (knowledge) • Give information the right shape -> Information Architect


Brainwork


from „the functional art“, Alberto Cairo



0

100

200

300

400

Brazil Colombia Venezuela Peru Argentina Chile Ecuador Bolivia

Discussion

vs



Absolute values



Relative values


Arm

ed F

orce

s (T

hous

ands

of p

eopl

e)

0

100

200

300

400

Population (Millions of people)

0 50 100 150 200

21,6

7,1

2,61,2

2,14,6

0,90,2

million dollars per year

Brazil

Colombia

BoliviaEcuador

Chile

Venezuela

Argentina

Peru

check $ per year


Form follows function



Louis SullivanAmerican Architect

"The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered", 1896



"All things in nature have a shape ... an outwards semblance, that tells us what they are ... Unfailing in nature these shapes express the inner life, the native quality of the animal, tree, bird, fish that they present to us.It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic ... that the life is recognisable in its expression, that form ever follows function. This is the law."

Louis Sullivan, "The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered," March, 1896http://academics.triton.edu/faculty/fheitzman/tallofficebuilding.html



• "The form of a thing is a clue to its nature" (->Affordances: Spoon vs. iPod)




• Influence on 20th century architecture (Bauhaus)




• Influence on 20th century architecture (Bauhaus)

• Today's interpretation: human centred design

http://www.bethkanter.org/wp-content/uploads/130.pngUsed under „Fair use“ doctrine



unidirectional relationship?


Functions constrain forms



Relationship between forms and function isbidirectional


Brainwork



Morgan Stanley

RBS

Deutsche Bank

Crédit Agricole

Société Générale

Barclays

BNP Paribas

Unicredit

UBS

Credit Suisse

Goldman Sachs

Santander

Citigroup

JP Morgan

HBSC

0 100 200 300 400

January 2007 January 2009



Morgan StanleyRBS

Deutsche BankCrédit Agricole

Société GénéraleBarclays

BNP ParibasUnicredit

UBSCredit Suisse

Goldman SachsSantander

CitigroupJP Morgan

HBSC0 100 200 300 400

Value Change

Loss (2007 - 2009)

2009 2007

Morgan StanleyRBS

Deutsche BankCrédit Agricole

Société GénéraleBarclays

BNP ParibasUnicredit

UBSCredit Suisse

Goldman SachsSantander

CitigroupJP Morgan

HBSC0 100 200 300 400



Are bubbles always bad?



http://www.xocas.com/blog/en/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/map_shift_margin_big.pngXaquín G.V.

http://www.xocas.com/blog/en/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/map_shift_margin_big.png


Tufte vs. Holmes

Artist unknownUsed under the fair use doctrine


Edward Tufte Nigel Holmes

vs.

„The engineer“ „The designer“


Edward Tufte

Edward Rolf Tufte„The engineer“

„is an American statistician and professor emeritus of political science, statistics, and computer science at Yale University. He is noted for his writings on information design and as a pioneer in the field of data visualization.“

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Tufte

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistician

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor_emeritus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_science

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_University

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_design

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_visualization

http://www.xocas.com/blog/en/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/map_shift_margin_big.png


Edward TufteMinimalism and Efficiency

„A visual design project is good if it communicates a lot with little.“

Edward R. Tufte



• Graphical excellence is the well-designed presentation of interesting data - a matter of substance, of statistics, and of design.




• Graphical excellence consists of complex ideas communicated with clarity, precision, and efficiency.




• Graphical excellence consists of complex ideas communicated with clarity, precision, and efficiency.

• Graphical excellence is that which gives to the viewer the greatest number of ideas in the shortest time with the least ink in the smallest space.


Edward Tufte


Edward TufteData-ink ratio

Data-ink ratio =Ink that encodes data

Total amount of ink used to print the graphic

Replace „ink“ with „pixels“ for our usage…


Edward TufteData-ink ratio

Data-ink ratio =150px

1000px= 0.15

The closer the data-ink ratio is to 1.0, the better the graphic is, according to Tufte.

Data pixel

„Chartjunk“


Nigel Holmes„The designer“

Nigel Holmes

„Is a British/American graphic designer, author, and theorist, who focuses on information graphics and information design…In 1977, worked in the map and chart department of Time magazine, where Holmes later became graphics director.“

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Holmes


Nigel Holmes


Nigel Holmes

17.500

35.000

52.500

70.000

1978 1979 1980 1981 1982


Discussion


Hands-on #1

Search an information graphic for each category: 1. Exploratory 2. Explanatory

in the internet or newspaper. Write a brief review (one paragraph) concerning topics learned in this lesson. Propose and explain improvements.

~3 people present their results as a basis for discussion next time.


RelatedPeople:Peter Morville @morville

nigel holmes @nigelblue

Edward Tufte @EdwardTufte

Alberto Cairo @albertocairo

https://twitter.com/morville

https://twitter.com/morville

https://twitter.com/nigelblue

https://twitter.com/nigelblue

https://twitter.com/EdwardTufte

https://twitter.com/EdwardTufte

https://twitter.com/albertocairo

https://twitter.com/albertocairo