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> It is completely reasonable to give up some precision to: > - Reduce unnecessary cognitive load and emphasize a feeling, as in the Climate Stripes example.
by patrick451 2y ago
> It is completely reasonable to give up some precision to:
> - Reduce unnecessary cognitive load and emphasize a feeling, as in the Climate Stripes example.
> - Encode a much higher volume of data, as in the Climate Globe example.
> -Add delight and use a visual metaphor to show trends, as in the Coffee Shop example
This the most absurd claim I have ever seen regarding data visualization. Give up precision for delight? Give up precision for a feeling? This article should have been tile "How to lie with graphs". The article is advocating for how to use graphs in the service of rhetoric, not science. This is exactly why visualizing data should NOT be treated as art.
The first and third bullet point are obsolutely not reasons to give up
- shriracha 2y agoYou think the Climate Stripes are an example of "lying"?
- patrick451 2y agoI think obscuring details to foment emotion is lying regardless of what the chart is about.
- shriracha 2y agoAll visualizations abstract and obscure data. There is no such thing as a fully neutral graph. Should everything just be a raw table?
- BLKNSLVR 2y agoGiving up precision is different to giving up the narrative. The narrative can be helped by engagement and if that comes at the cost of precision, then that was the cost of getting the message further than it may have otherwise reached. In this case, what is meant by "give up some precision" is to try removing some sharp edges that get in the way of telling the story. It's a long way from lying (when done with due consideration). They're examples. Choose what works for your data and you your story to get the best result.