10 ms·

Deep Chernoff Faces

138 points by pxx 6y ago

gotostatement 6y ago
this is a very interesting idea, but I think using gender and skin tone to represent data differences is potentially problematic, particularly if the data has any sort of normative meaning. the other variables are interesting though
- ebg13 6y ago
  I think this post is meant to be a joke.
  - ianai 6y ago
    It’s not funny.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - ebg13 6y ago
      It's not a joke about data or race or sex, and it doesn't make any claims about data or race or sex, and it doesn't signal anything about data or race or sex either intentionally or accidentally, and it doesn't do those things because it's demonstrably satire about how chernoff faces are a terrible idea. See the first footnote on the word "favorite" and the second footnote on the word "Clearly". I think your contempt is a serious misfire.
- batsigner 6y ago
  how about this: stop calling experiments, which the author calls "dumb and useless," "problematic." your slacktivist faux-concern does more harm than good.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
w1 6y ago
Super cool! Also, a character visualizes data this way in Watts' "Blindsight" novel.
- fab1an 6y ago
  Came here to say this! That creepy cool chernoff face utilizing vampire captain. So cool.
  - outworlder 6y ago
    Given that humans were prey for vampires, the variables selected by the captain showed faces in different states of anguish, which the predator was well-equipped to detect. So it is even creepier.
- outworlder 6y ago
  Yeap, that was my introduction to the concept. Blindsight is wonderful. A bit difficult to follow at a time due to the 'unique' writing style. In the same novel it tackles uploading consciousness, vampires, artificial intelligence, aliens, psychology (heavily) and a few more things. I've yet to find a better description of what would be an actual alien lifeform. Even if it is biased a bit on marine biology given the author's qualifications, the oceans are host to the most 'alien' environments we are aware of that still contain life. I still can't wrap my head on the concept of the Icarus Array though. Anyway, for the uninitiated: https://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm https://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm
ibrarmalik 6y ago
The idea behind Chernoff faces (or using faces for data visualization) seems good: we humans are very good at distinguishing faces, so we can quickly find groups and outliers if the data is encoded with a face. But we have to be careful with this. Changing facial expressions is not the same as increasing the height of a barplot, we're relating features with expressions and the visualization might express things that you don't want. There is a very famous example for this in "Life in Los Angeles" (1977) by Eugene Turner [1]. Maybe you can infer the data well but in the end this just ends up being a map of angry black people. The choice of features and how to visualize them is clearly racist. [1] https://mapdesign.icaci.org/2014/12/mapcarte-353365-life-in-los-angeles-by-eugene-turner-1977/ https://mapdesign.icaci.org/2014/12/mapcarte-353365-life-in-...
- ebg13 6y ago
  > The idea behind Chernoff faces (or using faces for data visualization) seems good: we humans are very good at distinguishing faces Except that: 1. We humans are actually _ABYSMAL_ at distinguishing faces (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-race_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-race_effect) 2. The ability to differentiate between two things and the ability to translate attributes into metrics are fundamentally so different from each other that any possible truth to the idea instantly becomes wildly irrelevant. https://eagereyes.org/criticism/chernoff-faces https://eagereyes.org/criticism/chernoff-faces
  - sukilot 6y ago
    One case of being imperfect isn't "abysmal". Cross facial discrimination is far more accurate than cross-species body discrimination, or wood grain discrimination, or many other things. There are brain regions detected to be dedicated to facial recognition.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
- sukilot 6y ago
  Huh? That map colored black people dark like their skin, and encoded misery as unhappy faces. The result accurately showed happy white people and unhappy black people. How is it racist to acknowledge the racially biased distribution of suffering?
ianai 6y ago
I’ve got to pull the alarm on this one. This is a huge liability to objectify and promulgate prejudice. It’s literally teaching people to associate good or bad distinctions with specific faces or facial features. How is that not objectifying? I think this should be treated highly suspiciously and probably not done at all. Edit-I see people may take this as a joke. Sorry, not funny. Especially not right now.
- brokensegue 6y ago
  it's definitely a joke. nobody uses chernoff faces
- identity0 6y ago
  You have to be joking. This is obviously one programmer's experiment on some esoteric data visualization mode that nobody ever used. The author even says in a footnote that: > "One of my favorite¹ concepts for multi-dimensional data visualization is the Chernoff Face" > 1: "Favorite" might be code for "useless," going with the theme of this blog" Don't act like this project will have actual real world uses and ramifications. No, it won't literally teach people to associate good or bad qualities with facial features, because nobody will ever use it for practical purposes. No, there's no liability to promote prejudice, this is just some programmers ML side-project. > How is that not objectifying? It literally is. The generated faces are mathematical objects. They're not real people.
  - ianai 6y ago
    In the faces I saw there was a clear connection between race and facial expression of happiness or sadness.
    - identity0 6y ago
      So? That just means that two variables are closely related. You have to be very blind and ignorant to take the implication that white people are less happy, or something. Is it racist to take a photo of a sad white person?
- 6y ago
asavinov 6y ago
There is an implementation of Chernoff faces where a fish is used instead of a human face, so it is called Chernoff fish: http://tmm-archive.github.io/chernoff-fish/ http://tmm-archive.github.io/chernoff-fish/ It is implemented in D3 and React and the source code is here: https://github.com/tmm-archive/chernoff-fish https://github.com/tmm-archive/chernoff-fish I implemented my own version long ago (for MS-DOS) and I am quite surprised that there is still some interest in the topic.
Daub 6y ago
One of the weirdest research project I ever got involved in was 'Real-Time Feedback System for Monitoring and Facilitating Discussions'. Using a game engine as the platform, it used dance-off moves to visualize social interaction within a discussion. One quote from the paper taken from 'The Craft of Information Visualization' (Bederson and Ben Shneiderma): 'Humans can recognise the spatial configuration of elements in a picture and notice relationships among elements quickly.'
mysterEFrank 6y ago
Nice!
ninjabiker 6y ago
Chernoff faces are an old idea that have become more of a joke (eg https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3170427.3188398 https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3170427.3188398 ). The problem is that they are weird enough to occasionally lure in well-intentioned people who are new to datavis. Encoding abstract data as faces results in unpredictable, unrelated, gross visualizations that are difficult to read. The only good one I have seen is https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/workers-compensation-benefits-by-limb https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/workers-compensatio... and it’s creepy.
totetsu 6y ago
It kind of reminds me of the genre of study material in Japan that personifies everything as a cartoon character. Here is the periodic table as little figures https://resemom.jp/article/img/2017/03/16/37127/162618.html https://resemom.jp/article/img/2017/03/16/37127/162618.html and this book is it as Manga girls. https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E5%85%83%E7%B4%A0%E5%91%A8%E6%9C%9F-%E8%90%8C%E3%81%88%E3%81%A6%E8%A6%9A%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B%E5%8C%96%E5%AD%A6%E3%81%AE%E5%9F%BA%E6%9C%AC-%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%82%B8%E3%82%AA%E3%83%8F%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3%83%87%E3%83%A9%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9/dp/4569702783 https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E5%85%83%E7%B4%A0%E5%91%A8%E6%9C%9...

138 points by pxx 6y ago

this is a very interesting idea, but I think using gender and skin tone to represent data differences is potentially problematic, particularly if the data has any sort of normative meaning. the other variables are interesting though

ebg13 6y ago
I think this post is meant to be a joke.
- ianai 6y ago
  It’s not funny.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - ebg13 6y ago
    It's not a joke about data or race or sex, and it doesn't make any claims about data or race or sex, and it doesn't signal anything about data or race or sex either intentionally or accidentally, and it doesn't do those things because it's demonstrably satire about how chernoff faces are a terrible idea. See the first footnote on the word "favorite" and the second footnote on the word "Clearly". I think your contempt is a serious misfire.
batsigner 6y ago
how about this: stop calling experiments, which the author calls "dumb and useless," "problematic." your slacktivist faux-concern does more harm than good.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

w1 6y ago

Super cool! Also, a character visualizes data this way in Watts' "Blindsight" novel.

fab1an 6y ago
Came here to say this! That creepy cool chernoff face utilizing vampire captain. So cool.
- outworlder 6y ago
  Given that humans were prey for vampires, the variables selected by the captain showed faces in different states of anguish, which the predator was well-equipped to detect. So it is even creepier.
outworlder 6y ago
Yeap, that was my introduction to the concept. Blindsight is wonderful. A bit difficult to follow at a time due to the 'unique' writing style. In the same novel it tackles uploading consciousness, vampires, artificial intelligence, aliens, psychology (heavily) and a few more things. I've yet to find a better description of what would be an actual alien lifeform. Even if it is biased a bit on marine biology given the author's qualifications, the oceans are host to the most 'alien' environments we are aware of that still contain life. I still can't wrap my head on the concept of the Icarus Array though. Anyway, for the uninitiated: https://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm https://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm

ibrarmalik 6y ago

The idea behind Chernoff faces (or using faces for data visualization) seems good: we humans are very good at distinguishing faces, so we can quickly find groups and outliers if the data is encoded with a face. But we have to be careful with this. Changing facial expressions is not the same as increasing the height of a barplot, we're relating features with expressions and the visualization might express things that you don't want. There is a very famous example for this in "Life in Los Angeles" (1977) by Eugene Turner [1]. Maybe you can infer the data well but in the end this just ends up being a map of angry black people. The choice of features and how to visualize them is clearly racist. [1] https://mapdesign.icaci.org/2014/12/mapcarte-353365-life-in-los-angeles-by-eugene-turner-1977/ https://mapdesign.icaci.org/2014/12/mapcarte-353365-life-in-...

ebg13 6y ago
> The idea behind Chernoff faces (or using faces for data visualization) seems good: we humans are very good at distinguishing faces Except that: 1. We humans are actually _ABYSMAL_ at distinguishing faces (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-race_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-race_effect) 2. The ability to differentiate between two things and the ability to translate attributes into metrics are fundamentally so different from each other that any possible truth to the idea instantly becomes wildly irrelevant. https://eagereyes.org/criticism/chernoff-faces https://eagereyes.org/criticism/chernoff-faces
- sukilot 6y ago
  One case of being imperfect isn't "abysmal". Cross facial discrimination is far more accurate than cross-species body discrimination, or wood grain discrimination, or many other things. There are brain regions detected to be dedicated to facial recognition.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
sukilot 6y ago
Huh? That map colored black people dark like their skin, and encoded misery as unhappy faces. The result accurately showed happy white people and unhappy black people. How is it racist to acknowledge the racially biased distribution of suffering?

ianai 6y ago

I’ve got to pull the alarm on this one. This is a huge liability to objectify and promulgate prejudice. It’s literally teaching people to associate good or bad distinctions with specific faces or facial features. How is that not objectifying? I think this should be treated highly suspiciously and probably not done at all. Edit-I see people may take this as a joke. Sorry, not funny. Especially not right now.

brokensegue 6y ago
it's definitely a joke. nobody uses chernoff faces
identity0 6y ago
You have to be joking. This is obviously one programmer's experiment on some esoteric data visualization mode that nobody ever used. The author even says in a footnote that: > "One of my favorite¹ concepts for multi-dimensional data visualization is the Chernoff Face" > 1: "Favorite" might be code for "useless," going with the theme of this blog" Don't act like this project will have actual real world uses and ramifications. No, it won't literally teach people to associate good or bad qualities with facial features, because nobody will ever use it for practical purposes. No, there's no liability to promote prejudice, this is just some programmers ML side-project. > How is that not objectifying? It literally is. The generated faces are mathematical objects. They're not real people.
- ianai 6y ago
  In the faces I saw there was a clear connection between race and facial expression of happiness or sadness.
  - identity0 6y ago
    So? That just means that two variables are closely related. You have to be very blind and ignorant to take the implication that white people are less happy, or something. Is it racist to take a photo of a sad white person?
6y ago

asavinov 6y ago

There is an implementation of Chernoff faces where a fish is used instead of a human face, so it is called Chernoff fish: http://tmm-archive.github.io/chernoff-fish/ http://tmm-archive.github.io/chernoff-fish/ It is implemented in D3 and React and the source code is here: https://github.com/tmm-archive/chernoff-fish https://github.com/tmm-archive/chernoff-fish I implemented my own version long ago (for MS-DOS) and I am quite surprised that there is still some interest in the topic.

Daub 6y ago

One of the weirdest research project I ever got involved in was 'Real-Time Feedback System for Monitoring and Facilitating Discussions'. Using a game engine as the platform, it used dance-off moves to visualize social interaction within a discussion. One quote from the paper taken from 'The Craft of Information Visualization' (Bederson and Ben Shneiderma): 'Humans can recognise the spatial configuration of elements in a picture and notice relationships among elements quickly.'

mysterEFrank 6y ago

Nice!

ninjabiker 6y ago

Chernoff faces are an old idea that have become more of a joke (eg https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3170427.3188398 https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3170427.3188398 ). The problem is that they are weird enough to occasionally lure in well-intentioned people who are new to datavis. Encoding abstract data as faces results in unpredictable, unrelated, gross visualizations that are difficult to read. The only good one I have seen is https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/workers-compensation-benefits-by-limb https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/workers-compensatio... and it’s creepy.

totetsu 6y ago

It kind of reminds me of the genre of study material in Japan that personifies everything as a cartoon character. Here is the periodic table as little figures https://resemom.jp/article/img/2017/03/16/37127/162618.html https://resemom.jp/article/img/2017/03/16/37127/162618.html and this book is it as Manga girls. https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E5%85%83%E7%B4%A0%E5%91%A8%E6%9C%9F-%E8%90%8C%E3%81%88%E3%81%A6%E8%A6%9A%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B%E5%8C%96%E5%AD%A6%E3%81%AE%E5%9F%BA%E6%9C%AC-%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%82%B8%E3%82%AA%E3%83%8F%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3%83%87%E3%83%A9%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9/dp/4569702783 https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E5%85%83%E7%B4%A0%E5%91%A8%E6%9C%9...