Visualizing Data to Tell

Your Story
November 16, 2016
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Data
visualization
is not new
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and description.
tOSU uCOM, 12/28/2015
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_chart#/media/File:Fern%C3%A3o_Vaz_Dourado_1571-1.jpg
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Playfair

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Playfair
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Playfair
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Playfair
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http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/publichealth/sources/source5/mapofleeds.html
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Playfair
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http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/publichealth/sources/source5/mapofleeds.html
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Data visualization
“… all types of visual representations
that support the exploration,
examination, and communication of
data.”

-Stephen Few
Now You See It: Simple Visualization
Techniques for Quantitative Analysis
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“When we represent quantitative

information in visual form, our ability to
think about it is dramatically enhanced.
Visual representation not only make
the patterns, trends, and exceptions in
numbers visible and understandable,
they also extend the capacity of our
memory.” -Stephen Few
Now You See It: Simple Visualization
Techniques for Quantitative Analysis
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General Benefits of Data Visualization

1. Great visualizations are efficient;
2. Visualizations can help groups achieve
more insight into the nature of a problem
and discover new understanding; and
3. Great visualizations create a shared view
of a situation and align folks on needed
actions.
-John Sviolkla
“Swimming in Data?”

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Graphic displays
are often very
effective at
communicating
information 16
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Graphic displays
are also often
not effective at
communicating
information 17
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Tools for collecting library data

Survey software
Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey
Free tools
Google Forms, Google Analytics
Proprietary tools
People counters, LibAnalytics/LibAnswers, ProQuest 360
Core

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Tools for analyzing library data

Access
Excel
R
SAS
SPSS
Tableau

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Tools for visualizing library data

Adobe Illustrator R
Chart.js SAS
Datawrapper SPSS
D3.js Tableau
Excel Timeline JS
Google Charts
Piktochart
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Tools for visualizing library data

Adobe Illustrator

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/graphs.html

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http://www.chartjs.org/ 22
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https://www.datawrapper.de/gallery/
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D3.js

https://d3js.org/
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Excel

https://products.office.com/en-us/excel
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Google Charts

https://developers.google.com/chart/interactive/docs/gallery
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Piktochart

https://piktochart.com/
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https://www.r-project.org/
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SAS

https://support.sas.com/sassamples/graphgallery/
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Timeline

https://timeline.knightlab.com/
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Tableau

https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/gallery/scripps-national-spelling-bee-difficulty/31
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Stephen Few
Now you see it:
Simple visualization
techniques for
quantitative analysis.

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Stephen Few
Information Dashboard
Design: Displaying Data
for At-A-Glance
Monitoring.

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Dona M. Wong
The Wall Street Journal
Guide to Information
Graphics

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Cole Nussbaumer
Knaflic
Storytelling With Data: A
Data Visualization Guide
for Business
Professionals.

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Best Practices for Designing

Effective Visualizations
• Know your audience
• Provide context and incorporate
instructions
• Add interactivity
• Apply visual best practices

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Know your
audience

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https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/gallery/endangered-safari
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http://go.osu.edu/GateCount 39
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Provide
context and
incorporate
instructions
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http://vizcandy.blogspot.ca/p/tableau-8-redoux.html 41
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https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/gallery/weekly-news-iron-viz-2015-champion 42
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Add
interactivity

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https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/gallery/scripps-national-spelling-bee-difficulty 44
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Apply visual
best
practices
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What are visual best practices?

• Choose the right chart type for the data
and the purpose of the visualization
• Emphasize the most important data
• Less is usually better
• Limit colors and use color and fonts
consistently
• Use space efficiently
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Select an appropriate view for your

data

http://blog.darkhorseanalytics.com/salvaging-the-pie
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Pie Chart

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Horizontal vs. Vertical Bar Chart

Example from: http://www.storytellingwithdata.com/blog/2012/10/my-

penchant-for-horizontal-bar-graphs 49
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Horizontal vs. Vertical Bar Chart

Example from: http://www.storytellingwithdata.com/blog/2012/10/my-

penchant-for-horizontal-bar-graphs 50
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Discrete vs. Continuous Dates

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Discrete vs. Continuous Dates

http://go.osu.edu/GateCount 53
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Discrete vs. Continuous Dates

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Discrete vs. Continuous Dates

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Small Multiples

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Scatterplots: View Correlations

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Mapping

http://go.osu.edu/REACH-Dashboard 58
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Word Clouds

http://go.osu.edu/OSUL_HumanTraffickingAwareness
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Tree Maps

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Tree Maps

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_multiple

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Histograms & Box & Whisker Plots

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Histograms & Box & Whisker Plots

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Join & Blend Data

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Data
visualization ≠
data narrative
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The data narrative

Context
Clarity
Emotional connection
Engagement

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Storytelling with data

“I think people have begun to forget how
powerful human stories are, exchanging
their sense of empathy for a fetishistic
fascination with data, networks,
patterns, and total information … Really,
the data is just part of the story. The
human stuff is the main stuff, and the
data should enrich it.”
Jonathan Harris, Creator
We Feel Fine
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Narrative
“An account of a series of events,
facts, etc., given in order and with the
establishing of connections between
them; a narration, a story, and
account.”

Oxford English Dictionary

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Design of the data narrative

-Edward Segel and Jeffrey Heer

“Narrative visualization: telling stories with data”
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Design of the data narrative

Author-Driven Reader-Driven
Linear ordering of scenes No prescribed ordering
Heavy messaging No messaging
No interactivity Free interactivity

-Edward Segel and Jeffrey Heer

“Narrative visualization: telling stories with data”
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Visual narrative tactics

1. Visual structuring
2. Highlighting
3. Transition guidance

-Edward Segel and Jeffrey Heer

“Narrative visualization: telling stories with data”
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Narrative structure tactics

1. Ordering
2. Interactivity
3. Messaging

-Edward Segel and Jeffrey Heer

“Narrative visualization: telling stories with data”
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Examples
Chronicle of Higher Education
Where Does Your Freshman Class Come From?
http://www.chronicle.com/interactives/where-does-
your-freshman-class-come-from#id=inst_204796
Bread for the World Institute
Unmasking Hidden Hunger
https://public.tableau.com/profile/derek4529#!/vizh
ome/UnmaskingHiddenHunger_0/TheNewFaceofH
unger
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Examples
ProPublica
Workers Comp Benefits: How Much is a Limb
Worth?
https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/workers-
compensation-benefits-by-limb
Faces of Fracking
California’s Getting Fracked
http://www.facesoffracking.org/data-visualization/

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References
Few, Stephen. 2006. Information Dashboard Design: Displaying Data for At-a-
Glance Monitoring. Burlingame, CA: Analytics Press.
Few, Stephen. 2009. Now You See It: Simple Visualization Techniques for
Quantitative Analysis. Oakland, CA: Analytics Press.
Friendly, Michael. 2008. “ Brief History of Data Visualization.” In Handbook of
Data Visualization, edited by Chun-houh Chen, Wolfgang Härdle, and Antony
Unwin, 15-56. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Knaflic, Cole Nussbaumer. 2015. Storytelling With Data: A Data Visualization
Guide for Business Professionals. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons.
Playfair, William. 1786. The Commercial and Political Atlas: Representing by
Means of Stained Copper-Plate Charts, the Progress of the Commerce,
Revenues, Expenditure and Debts of England During the Whole of the
Eighteenth Century.

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References
Segel, Edward and Jeffrey Heer. “Narrative Visualization: Telling Stories with
Data.” IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 16, no. 6
(2010):1139-1148.
Simon, Phil. 2014. The Visual Organization: Data, Visualization, Big Data, and
the Quest for Better Decisions. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley.
Sviolkla, John. 2009. “Swimming in Data? Three Benefits of Visualization.”
Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2009/12/swimming-in-data-three-
benefit
Wong, Dona M. The Wall Street Journal. Guide to Information Graphics: The
Dos and Don’ts of Presenting Data, Facts, and Figures. (New York: W.W.
Norton & Co., c2010).

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QUESTIONS?
Sarah Anne Murphy, MLS, MBA
Coordinator of Assessment & Professor

University Libraries
221C Thompson Library,
1858 Neil Avenue Mall, Columbus, OH 43210
614-247-7236 Office
murphy.465@osu.edu u.osu.edu/murphy.465/

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