20101013 Marius Watz - AHO Interaction design

Information visualization,
Self-ethnography and you
An introduction to Information Visualization,
including a (very) brief history, recent trends and
the notion of Data Literacy.

Practical application: Self-Etnography, also known

as personal data logging. Easily available tools,
relevant existing projects and suggested practices.

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Information visualization
»»The practice of interpreting data and presenting
it visually in ways that bring to light patterns
of information, so as to enable the discovery of
knowledge.

»»Visualization is often seen as a way of convincing

an audience. But is also a powerful for
discovering new knowledge.

»»The aim of visualization is to reveal (Manuel Lima)

Information visualization
»»History: Maps are as old as written culture.
Infoviz as we know it dates back to late 1700s.

»»Almost all common chart types were pioneered

before 1810

»»Early heroes: William Playfair, Charles Minard,

Florence Nightingale
Willam Playfair
Statistical Breviary (1801)

Generally considered the first pie chart

Willam Playfair
Trade balance, England and Denmark / Norway
Florence Nightingale, 1858
Causes of mortality in the Army
Charles Minard, 1869
Chart of Napoleon’s disastrous march on Moscow

Simultaneous display of multiple variables (location, troops, temperature)

Computers & visualization
»»A computer = a machine that computes.
Computers are number crunchers, perfect tools
for visualizing data.

»»Modern visualizations deals with huge data sets:

- MRI scans
- Internet topology
- Human genomes
- Social network interactions
Visible Human Project, 1994
3D data set of the human body

Male: 1 mm slices, 15 GB data Female: 0.33 mm slices, 40 GB data

Bill Cheswick, June 1999
Map of the Internet, by IP addresses
Ben Fry: HapMap
Haplotype blocks in human genome

>Link
New concepts
»»Computational Design applies computational
solutions to design tasks.

»»Designers working with code are coming up with

new ways of looking at data.

»»Visualization realized as software processes

allows for new types of visualization. Instead
of static diagrams, visualizations become
interactive interfaces.
Ben Fry: HapMap
Haplotype blocks in human genome

>Link
Martin Wattenberg: Shape of Song
Vivaldi - Autumn

>Link
Moritz Stefaner: Map Your Moves
Where New Yorkers move to/from and why

>Link
 SmartMoney.com: Map of the Market
Treemap of the US stockmarket

>Link
 SmartMoney.com: Map of the Market
Sept 29, 2008: US bailout plan rejected by Congress

>Via Burak Arikan

Marcos Weskamp: Newsmap
Treemap of current news stories

>Link
 Manuel Lima: Visual Complexity
Index of visualization projects

>Link
Marcos Weskamp: Newsmap
Treemap of current news stories

>Link
telling stories with data
»»The best visualizations tell stories.

»»How can data be transformed into knowledge?

»»How can you ask interesting questions and

answer them through data?
 David McCandless
Informationisbeautiful.com

>Link
 David McCandless
Informationisbeautiful.com

>Link
blog.okcupid.com
Statistics from online dating

>Link
 Simon Elvins: Silent London

>Link
 Simon Elvins: Silent London

>Link
self-ethnography
»»Wikipedia: Ethnography
(Greek ethnos = folk/people, graphia = writing)

Research strategy often used in the social

sciences [..] It is often employed for gathering
empirical data on human societies/cultures.
Data collection is often done through participant
observation, interviews, questionnaires, etc.
Ethnography aims to describe the nature of
those who are studied [..]
drinkingdiary.com
Alcohol tracking service

>Link
dailydiary.com
Personal tracking service

>Link
last.fm
Music tracking

>Link
Nick Felton
Feltron.com Annual Report

>Link
Nick Felton
Feltron.com Annual Report

>Link
Nick Felton
Feltron.com Annual Report

>Link
Nick Felton
Feltron.com Annual Report

>Link
Nick Felton
Feltron.com Annual Report

>Link
Nick Felton
Feltron.com Annual Report

>Link
Nick Felton
Feltron.com Annual Report

>Link
Nick Felton
Feltron.com Annual Report

>Link
Nick Felton
Feltron.com Annual Report

>Link
Nick Felton
Feltron.com Annual Report

>Link
Nick Felton
Feltron.com Annual Report

>Link
20101013 Marius Watz - AHO Interaction design

Information visualization,
Self-ethnography and you
»»Suggestions for possible data sources

»»Types of data

»»Challenges in completing task

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 Shopping

Food / drink
Personal consumption
Media (books, newspapers, movies, TV)

Friends / family

Social networks
Social interactions
Social media activity

Happiness

Data suggestions Emotion Stress level

FourSquare / Places

Location GPS traces

Hours worked

Work / productivity Types of labor

Log of ideas w/ time and keywords

Idea log Mindmaps

Data suggestions.mmap - 15.09.2010 - Mindjet
 Hours worked / day

Cups of coffee / day

Quantitative measurements
(easily visualized) Happiness level every hour
Time series
Heart rate every hour

GPS coordinate / trace

Location Place name

Data types
Time / place drawn

Sketches (not so easy) Category

Time / place written

Text (not so easy) Category

Main Topic

Data types.mmap - 13.09.2010 - Mindjet

 Find realistic topic

Limited time of exercise Data must be collectable

Consider your methods

Accuracy of data Keep consistent logs

Tell a story

Ask yourself good questions

Analysing data to produce meaning
Challenges
Look for existing methodology

Daytum.com

your.flowingdata.com

RescueTime

Data collection Spreadsheet (Excel or similar)

Physical notes that are later digitized

Media scrobbling: Last.fm

Challenges.mmap - 15.09.2010 - Mindjet