Information Graphics

Joyeeta Dutta-MoscatoJuly 9, 2013

Snow, 1854

Nightingale, 1858

Minard, 1869

Edward Tufte (1942- )Yale UniversityProfessor Emeritus in Political Science, Computer Science, Statistics & Senior Critic, School of Art

Pioneer in the field of data visualization

http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/

Excellence in statistical graphic consists of complex ideas communicated with clarity, precision, and efficiency.

Graphical displays should:• Show the data• Induce the viewer to think about substance, rather than

methodology• Avoid distorting what the data have to say• “Excellent visualizations are those that give the viewer the

greatest number of ideas in the shortest amount of time, with the least ink and in the smallest space.” In essence, data illustration is about simplifying the complex as much as possible.

• When the data-rich illustrations are examined closely, every data point has a value, but when they are looked at more generally, only trends and patterns can be observed – a macro/micro reading, presented in the space of an eye-span

Graphical Excellence

Edward Tufte, ‘The Visual Display of Quantitative Information’

Graphical excellence is the well-designed presentation of interesting data

- a matter of Substance, Statistics and Design

Graphical excellence is almost always multivariate

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

Graphical excellence requires telling the truth about the data.

Graphical Excellence

Edward Tufte, ‘The Visual Display of Quantitative Information’

Anscombe’s Quartet

Good graphics reveal data

Anscombe’s quartet

Anscombe’s Quartet

The 1986 destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger, which was due to a damaged O-ring seal, has been attributed in part to a failure of data analysis.

Decision-makers at the US space agency, NASA, were uncertain about whether to launch the space shuttle in below-freezing temperatures.

Non-Informative Graphics

They had the data

A visualization prioritizing information makes obvious the risk of O-ring damage in extreme cold temperatures.

Informative GraphicsEdward Tufte later pointed out, this disaster could have been avoided had the data been more clearly conveyed through the use of a graphic.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/naomirobbins/2012/08/04/another-misleading-graph-of-romneys-tax-plan/

Misleading Graphics

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/08/09/today-in-dishonest-fox-charts-government-aid-ed/189223

Misleading Graphics

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/03/16/another-whopper-from-foxs-graphics-department/185186

Misleading Graphics

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ebroodle/fox-news-pie-chart-fail-68j

Misleading Graphics

Graphical excellence is the well-designed presentation of interesting data

- a matter of Substance, Statistics and Design

Graphical excellence is almost always multivariate

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

Graphical excellence requires telling the truth about the data.

Graphical Excellence

Edward Tufte, ‘The Visual Display of Quantitative Information’

Bhavnani et al. 2012

Bhavnani et al. 2012

Krzywinski, M. et al. Circos: an Information Aesthetic for Comparative Genomics. Genome Res (2009) 19:1639-1645

CIRCOS

The human genome is comprised of 22 pairs of chromosomes 1-22 and the pair of sex chromosomes X,Y. Individual chromosomes range from about 50 Mb (chr 21) to about 250 Mb (chr 1) and together compose the 3 Gb human genome.

CIRCOS

http://www.gapminder.org

http://bost.ocks.org/mike/

http://d3js.org/

Acknowledgments

Liz Marai, Dept. of Comp Science

Harry Hochheiser, Dept of Biomedical Informatics