The Dirty Truth about Data Visualization

March 14, 2013

Data Visualization is becoming the new thing when it comes to presentation, portfolios and even proposals however there is more to this fade than meets the eye. The NetMag article “Seven Secrets of Data Visualisation” provides an informative yet comical view of data visualization and the challenges that developers face. The article gives readers seven dirty little secrets about the data visualization world.

Real data is ugly.
A bar chart is usually better.
There’s no substitute for real data.
The devil is in the details.
Animate only when appropriate.
Visualization is not analysis.
Data visualization takes more than code.

These secrets may be surprising to some but to most people once they think about it they actually make sense. For instance data is what it is. Though users are always trying to find ways to “clean” their data up and make it presentable, it still takes a lot of work to make something out of nothing. Whether it comes down to formatting or using special online tools, users need help to take their data from a bunch of random numbers and figures to something presentable and more importantly understandable. When it comes to animation sometimes less is definitely more. It can be tempting to add lots of animation and special effects to your data but in the long run all it does is add to the chaos. The number six secret is probably one of the most important. Though data visualization in many cases can aid analysis it is not a substitute for data, meaning that it still takes analytical skills, effort and expertise to help bring any data to life. Visualization Developers definitely face challenges and this article definitely lays the little secrets out on the table but it’s hard to call them dirty. One might say just say they hold duplicitous roles when it comes to talking about what really goes on.

April Holmes, March 14,2013

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Data, News, visualization

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.