Hands On Activity 1: What is Data?
[My personal favorite display of visualization is the example containing the stacked bar graph, “Based on a True Story”. Bar graphs in general provide the easiest interpretation by the reader and cleanest aesthetic. When you click on this example, I noticed the inclusion of the different ways the author of the dataset organized the data. They constructed the options so you could pick, based on your own bias, how true the listed movies were to their real-life occurrences. A pro to this style of visualization is the ease with which the reader understands the information based on the data. There is a clear depiction of a percentage next to the name of the film and its bar graph, as well as a color coded key for clearer understanding of just how true or false the information provided in the movie actually is. A con to this form of visualization is that it does not provide the exact percentages of the middle ground, and leaves the observer to trust the creator’s interpretation of what is correct and what is false. Another con is, as I mentioned before, you can choose to see the data based on your own bias. I prefer the “Only the absolute truth” option, but that’s just me. I think that a further inclusion of data being available to the viewer would make this version of visualization better. If I were able to see a complete list, film by film, on each scene they judged as being false or true to its historical events, I might believe the validity and accuracy of the chart more. Even if they took the time to include such a break-down, I would be more inclined to believe the information to be accurate. The team member cards were more informational than anything, and gave each person’s contact information and background as either an introduction or a “get to know me better” aspect of their website. They were clear, concise, and provided any information one might wonder or need to get in contact with these people and further business with them. It is color separated, descriptive enough, and leaves no further questions to be asked by the viewer. If anything, the only con to this version of visualization is that it leaves a lot to be wondered. “The Demographics of Others” was also an interesting vantage point of many races, ethnicities, ages, and genders’ situations as of a 2016 American Community Survey. On the contrary to the latter post, this visualization may be too much information at once and too many options to discern from.]