Visualization Techniques and Practice

Big data can feel impersonal, overwhelming and cold. But stark statistics are now being used to make intimate statements through art and public advocacy.

The past few years have seen the widespread availability of a large amount of data, thanks largely to the internet.

Census reports are easily searchable, campaign polling is expertly parsed and analysed, and online dating behaviour provides a glimpse into human sexuality.

Now more artists are using these impersonal details to make an impassioned statement; visit the article link for examples.

Generally, people don’t have the time or energy to sit and plow through pages or screens of text; they want to be able to ingest information as quickly and easily as possible. With the recent rise of infographics (information graphics), what used to require an avalanche of stats or analyses to dissect, can now be interpreted and relayed into an easy-to-read, fun, and visually appealing schematic – and an excellent content marketing concept. Infographics, when designed well, can be applied to different online sites and social networks.

Summarized at the article are 5 free tools (with links) that allow you to start creating simple infographics or explore the potential of data visualization...

Data Visualization is driven by data. Its form is often derived from optimizing the efficiency of inputting data (and information about that data) into a human brain. It is a very pragmatic practice, built around numbers and logic.

And yet it is beautiful. It evokes emotions. It can be aesthetically pleasing, or hideous. It communicates complex concepts and provokes thought. It is consumed for enjoyment. Some visualizations even share similarities with poetry.

There are several stages in the life cycle of data visualizations, and while the core of the practice is driven by rational thinking, any number of stages in the process have opportunities for subjective decisions or artistic interpretations...

A pictorial display of statistics, the infographic is a huge hit in the internet age.

But as one on rape figures has recently shown, they can be highly misleading.

A picture apocryphally speaks a thousand words, but its 21st-century counterpart – the infographic – often says much less. It's no surprise that the grabby and easily shared format has taken off in the internet era, and the latest graphic to go viral is one on a tough and complex problem: rape and criminal justice...

“Open data” — the philosophy and practice of making the data collected by government agencies freely available to the public — is critical to increasing citizens’ engagement with their governments. Since 2010, hundreds of nations, regions, and cities across the world have launched their own open data initiatives.

For example, datacatalogs.org maintains centralized lists of local, regional, and national data catalogs. Europe is heavily represented: nearly every country publishes open data, geospatial files and maps and statistics. Within each nation, local councils, regional governments, and autonomous regions are publishing their own locally-relevant open data. Spain, Italy, and France each boast over a dozen internal data catalogs created by local agencies...

Whether or not open data portals eventually lead to open, transparent, and accountable democratic governments is still up for debate, but they remain indispensable to the citizens, researchers, and journalists using data from these sites.

Read the complete post for a better understanding of open data in a concise, yet informative article with numerous links and specific initiatives referenced for further research...