4 ms·

Data visualisation, from 1987 to today

85 points by prismatic 8y ago

ishikawa 8y ago
The topic is interesting but unfortunately the article lacks on "data visualisation" examples. Although interesting to know how it was before computers, more like art than data science, it would be good to see how it evolved on computers from 1987 to now.
- ellisv 8y ago
  Many common data visualizations pre-date 1987 -- but it certainly would be interesting to read about how technology has changed our approach to them.
- kaybe 8y ago
  This article could be considerably longer, I agree. As such, it is merely an interesting introduction.
stared 8y ago
For even older data visualization, I recommend Willard C. Brinton, "Graphic presentation" (1939) a book freely accessible on https://archive.org/stream/graphicpresentat00brinrich#page/n0/mode/thumb https://archive.org/stream/graphicpresentat00brinrich#page/n.... It is fascinating to see that people repeat the same simple errors that were considered errors almost 80 years ago.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
tontonius 8y ago
Re: the Florence Nightningale reference in the article http://www.florence-nightingale-avenging-angel.co.uk/?p=462 http://www.florence-nightingale-avenging-angel.co.uk/?p=462
siruncledrew 8y ago
Foundational principles from scholars such as Tufte and Bertins have helped influence data visualization over the years from a presentation perspective, but software improvements, such as D3.js, have tremendously assisted in the implementation piece of data visualization. Further, computer improvements and the advent of languages like R and Python have also allowed us to clean, process, and present a much greater volume of data than could have been achieved in the 80s and 90s.
philipodonnell 8y ago
> Our spelling deteriorated almost overnight as the pressure of making mistakes was removed. Some things never change :-)
Cieplak 8y ago
No discussion of data visualization history is complete without mention of Edward Tufte's The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi
ayy_lmao 8y ago
Displaying data in graphical is nice but do you have any recommendation for guidelines in making tables? So far I have find https://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/markusp/teaching/guides/guide-tables.pdf https://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/markusp/teaching/guides/gui...

85 points by prismatic 8y ago

The topic is interesting but unfortunately the article lacks on "data visualisation" examples. Although interesting to know how it was before computers, more like art than data science, it would be good to see how it evolved on computers from 1987 to now.

ellisv 8y ago
Many common data visualizations pre-date 1987 -- but it certainly would be interesting to read about how technology has changed our approach to them.
kaybe 8y ago
This article could be considerably longer, I agree. As such, it is merely an interesting introduction.

stared 8y ago

For even older data visualization, I recommend Willard C. Brinton, "Graphic presentation" (1939) a book freely accessible on https://archive.org/stream/graphicpresentat00brinrich#page/n0/mode/thumb https://archive.org/stream/graphicpresentat00brinrich#page/n.... It is fascinating to see that people repeat the same simple errors that were considered errors almost 80 years ago.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

tontonius 8y ago

Re: the Florence Nightningale reference in the article http://www.florence-nightingale-avenging-angel.co.uk/?p=462 http://www.florence-nightingale-avenging-angel.co.uk/?p=462

siruncledrew 8y ago

Foundational principles from scholars such as Tufte and Bertins have helped influence data visualization over the years from a presentation perspective, but software improvements, such as D3.js, have tremendously assisted in the implementation piece of data visualization. Further, computer improvements and the advent of languages like R and Python have also allowed us to clean, process, and present a much greater volume of data than could have been achieved in the 80s and 90s.

philipodonnell 8y ago

> Our spelling deteriorated almost overnight as the pressure of making mistakes was removed. Some things never change :-)

Cieplak 8y ago

No discussion of data visualization history is complete without mention of Edward Tufte's The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi

ayy_lmao 8y ago

Displaying data in graphical is nice but do you have any recommendation for guidelines in making tables? So far I have find https://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/markusp/teaching/guides/guide-tables.pdf https://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/markusp/teaching/guides/gui...