Data Visualization Critique.
According to Monika Halkort, 2018 data visualization allows people to analyze and examine large datasets, which would otherwise be difficult to understand.But it also helps to reveal patterns and relations between data points and to highlight interesting details or subsets of datafiles.
In this BlogPost we’ll critique and examine 3 data visualized charts:
1- Informative Pie chart :
Unintentional Injury Deaths by Cause, New Jersey, 2015
This pie chart displaying number of Unintentional Injury Deaths by Cause, is a perfect example of such misuse present in some data visualizations charts. First, piecharts shouldn’t be used to represent data with Multiple classes or areas. This creates many small slices, which the reader cannot distinguish well from each other, and thus information will be lost or ignored in reading. A piechart with less than 6 categories can be a fast and effective way to communicate a point, but more slices or information require Bar graph or Line graph( in my opinion, it’s more readable because there would be enough space to represent all the categories clearly and its more effective). Second,The chart has no values on it, even though the slices are displayed in ranked order from the highest value (Poisining) at the top and continuing clockwise to the smallest, this ranking isn’t obvious because it’s difficult to compare the slices. Thus the reader has no idea of the difference in number of deaths by Cause although the database/source: Death Certificate Database, Office of Vital Statistics and Registry is reliable and of course has detailed numbers and information so adding an actual number or a percentage would make the chart more informative and relevant even if it’s a reliable source. Finally, Colors used are very joyful and some of the colors are light which doesn’t correspond to the topic of the pie chart (death) , i would require more contrasted and shades of black colors.
2- : Informative infographic:
As we can see in this Info graphic,it shows money raised from popular fundraisers and the number of related disease deaths. At a first glance, It takes a lot of work to figure it out what’s the “real deal” or what’s going on . First, You have to realize that each color is associated with a different cause — my initial thought was that the top circles represent deaths and dollars for the first cause, the second circles are for the second cause, etc,… Second, even once you’ve realized what is being displayed, and how, you pretty much have to go disease by disease to see what is going on; there’s no way to understand the whole pattern at once. Third, Other than pink for breast cancer and maybe red for AIDS none of the color mappings are standardized in any sense, so you have to keep referring back to the legend at the top so Good luck if you’re Color Blind. Last but not least, the fact that the area of the circle isn’t the relevant parameter’s misleading for the viewer (At the top two circles on the left, the upper one should be less than twice the size of the second one.) It looks like they made the diameter of the circle proportional to the quantity rather than the area. Among other problems with this chart, the amount of money raised on the left is not the total amount raised for each disease, but instead the amount raised in one specific program.
3-Educational Bar Graph:
As we can see this is a time series bar chart in histogram format and it portrayed information in a clear, concise way. This chart shows the viewer the shift in public schools from majority white to majority non-white since 1997, as well as the future shift through 2022. The source of this graph is reliable and accurate(Pew Research).In my opinion, the data represented is best displayed in this format as this design has the ability to display a lot of information in one concise image. It provides a great visual impression of the demographic trends in the public schools, although there is a lot of information, I think the hard and fast facts are easy to pick out by the use of different colors on the bar. Additionally, using the dotted line to surround the total percentages for each variable (majority vs. minority) draws your eye right to the important numbers. According to Halkort, 2018 “ The first impressions that you have when glancing at a visualization are important in determining whether you decide to spend time looking and interrogating the data.”, from this concept I think this chart would not be easily read by someone not familiar with reading charts and graphs. This chart appears to be designed for persons having at least a basic understanding of data, which not all people do. Final draw back is that the actual total percentages for each minority group is not provided, neither in the accompanying text nor the chart.
As a conclusion i would like to sum up my analysis by saying that the perfect chart does not exist.
Sources:
- Monika Halkort,2018,Slide of week 7.
- Death Certificate Database, Office of Vital Statistics and Registry, New Jersey Department of Health, 2017 — Retrieved from:https://www26.state.nj.us/doh-shad/indicator/complete_profile/UnintInjDeath.html?PrinterFriendly=x?ListCategoryFirst=x
- The infographic from Vox’s article by Julia Belluz.( CDC,2011) — Retrieved from: https://www.vox.com/2014/8/20/6040435/als-ice-bucket-challenge-and-why-we-give-to-charity-donate
- JENS MANUEL KROGSTAD AND RICHARD FRY, 2014 — Retrieved from:http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/08/18/u-s-public-schools-expected-to-be-majority-minority-starting-this-fall/
