What is Data? Hands-on Activity

My thoughts on the effectivess of three different data visualizations.

Team Member Cards Visualization 1

The visualization uses dictionary compound data. Photo, name, position, phone number, location, and main role are scalar values. By arranging the data so that only names and position shown, the visual display avoids cluttering the audience with too much information. It’s also easy to access the hidden information with a simple click. However, if there were more employees, the current arrangement can become incredibly unwieldy. The visualization could be more effective by arranging the employees in alphabetical order list.

The Demographics of Others Visualization 2

By inputting the data required (sex, age group, and race or origin which are scalar), which is arranged in a list, a visualization of the inputted data along with their database appears. While visually appealing, a disadvantage of these square pie charts is the lack of percentage transparency. Instead of communcating the exact percentages to the audience, we would need to count the squares and calculate the amount filled to get a relative percentage. It’s effective for a general overview, but not effective for communicating accurate numerical information.

“Based on a True Story” Visualization 3

Before clicking on a movie, the movies are arranged in a list. The list display can be changed by arranging the movies by alphabetical order, date added, date realeased, most true, and most false. Each movie has their own data visualization. Interestingly, the data can be manipulated by a measure of truth which changes the bar graphs and the percentage of truth. We can see the measure of truth affect the bar graph and give a quick general overview of what parts of the movie changed. The arrangement of the data in a stacked bar graph appears cluttered, but there is still order to the data. Clicking or hovering over a time (a scalar value) in the movie will give information about the movie scene and reality, a dictionary quality. A disadvantage to this visualization is only being able to scroll through the times rather than being allowed to simply input a movie time. There is also no way to input a movie name and search, only scrolling down the list.