Data Visualization Lab

Google Trends

The chart shows the popularity of search terms related to major social networking platforms over the last decade. Around 2008, Facebook rises in popularity relative to MySpace and by 2012, MySpace is no longer popular at all.

In the battle for people’s time and attention, MySpace was simply not able to compete. As younger people gravitated to Facebook and that company heavily invested in information infrastructure, like servers, new apps, and targeting and advertising.

Pie Charts

Pie charts show the breakdown of two different sets of numbers (160 and 40 versus 25 and 6). These number sets both reflect an 80/20 percentage breakdown.

Cairo argues that people are biased towards larger numbers and may prefer the number set on the left, but in reality, these both represent 20 percent. This exercise shows that visuals are a powerful way to cut through individual bias in information processing.

Quarterbacks

The grouped bar graph shows the difference between the best and worst quarterbacks in the regular season according to ESPN. Drew Breeze led the league in Touchdowns (32) compared to Rosen (11). Rosen was also sacked more often (45 times) he had 14 interceptions, completed 55 percent of his passes, and had a QBR of 66.7.

Recession

The line graph shows the change in job growth from 1990 through 2018. There were three recession periods: from July 1990 through March 1991, March 2001 through November 2001, and December 2007 through July 2009. After each recession, the number of jobs dropped.