Information Visualization, Self-Ethnography and You

20120127 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.

TWITTER.COM/MARIUSWATZ FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/WATZ UNLEKKER.NET VIMEO.COM/WATZ GENERATORX.NO DELICIOUS.COM/GARUDA WORKSHOP.EVOLUTIONZONE.COM 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 deal 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 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 openpaths.cc Tracking geo traces

NY Times R&D Lab Origin: iPhone geo log “scandal” Nick Felton Feltron.com Annual Report

>Link Nick Felton Feltron.com Annual Report

>Link METHODOLOGY

»»1. Establish topic of inquiry

»»2. Find tools for data logging

»»3. Log data consistently

»»4. Investigate possible visualization strategies

»»5. Visualize using suitable tools THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!

Marius Watz is: [email protected] http://www.unlekker.net http://twitter.com/mariuswatz http://twitter.com/generatorx http://www.generatorx/ http:// workshop.evolutionzone.com/ http:// flickr.com/photos/watz/