Giving life to data through visualization
Hacks/Hackers Nairobi learns the ins and outs of #dataviz
With data visualization, you can explain concepts to your audience and also allow them to explore the data for themselves. Piero Zagami an Italian graphic designer and Luke Okelo, a lecturer at the Technical University of Kenya in the School of Information and Communications Studies, took some time to share interesting insights and lessons on giving life to data through visualization.
Information Design
Piero has worked on Stock Check, a visualization showing how many years’ worth of minerals and precious metals we have left.
He has also worked on visualizations showing how many cells we have in our bodies, how much water we have, and interestingly, how many of our cells are actually ‘human cells’. With the rapid development of technology and a variety of tools to explore, Piero also worked on the design of a platform found in Egypt known as Harassmap, a tool that allows victims or witnesses of sexual harassment to report any incidents. It also doubles up as an easy resource for those looking for the data on harassment in Egypt.
Piero and a fellow designer Tiziana Alocci started Market Cafe Mag, a zine that dives into the fundamentals of design and data visualization, and is available in print form as well. Market Cafe Magazine has some interesting projects and insights. For example, they looked at how Instagram photos can be used to gauge the popularity of certain tourist attractions within a city. Every issue of the magazine focuses on a specific topic. That way, they are able to go into detail about issues of interest to the design community.
The zine is published every four months with their latest Issue 3 that came out in February focuses on how time is visualized. Their aim is to help fellow designers in their line of work.
3D #DataViz
What role does 3D play in organizing and visualizing data? Luke is linking data visualization with analytics, where visualization presents the data in a way that’s easy for humans to understand. He shared the usefulness of 3D technology in interpreting data. 3D provides a way to manipulate and analyze quantitative data into a form that is easier to understand. Humans process data better in 3 dimensions as opposed to 2 dimensions. 3D is more efficient, shows connections more easily, and is kind of exciting!
Design thinking is a process, 3D comes in at a point in this process.
So how does one structure their problem and come up with an appropriate design at the end of it all?
- Step 1 is understanding the problem. How you ask your questions matters.
- Step 2 is observation. You need to understand the existing solutions to the problem you are looking at.
- Step 3 is definition. Identify your point of view and if necessary, shift your focus to the problem itself to find a solution.
- Step 4 is ideation. Generate as many ideas as possible without letting technical feasibility get in your way.
- Step 5 is testing. Build and refine your concept and put it through real-world scenarios.
There we go! Not so hard to ponder after all. Visualization is not only taking newsrooms by storm, but also researchers, data scientist, techies and developers. Do not be left behind as we make meaning of the numbers.
The worlds of hackers and journalists are coming together, as reporting goes digital and Internet companies become media empires.
Journalists call themselves “hacks,” someone who can churn out words in any situation. Hackers use the digital equivalent of duct tape to whip out code.
Hacker-journalists try and bridge the two worlds. Hacks/Hackers Africa aims to bring all these people together — those who are working to help people make sense of our world. It’s for hackers exploring technologies to filter and visualize information, and for journalists who use technology to find and tell stories. In the age of information overload and collapse of traditional business models for legacy media, their work has become even more crucial.
Code for Africa, is the continent’s largest Open Data and civic technology initiative, recognises this and is spearheading the establishment of a network of Hacks/Hackers chapters across Africa to help bring together pioneers for collaborative projects and new ventures.
