Data visualisation or statistical analysis? It is a bit of both really isn’t it and I can’t say I was fond of statistical analysis in first year. Although info graphs appeal to me very much. They tell a much better story then a plan ol’ graph.

Data visualisation all seems very subjected to me, what appeals and represents information to one person is completely confusing to another, especially when you start to employ colours. I like pink and purples and my attention will be grabbed immediately when using these colours. Browns and greens not so much. I guess it is the same with straight lines and curves or cluttered and clean spaces. Data visualisation isn’t just for research papers the way I was taught way back when for statistics. If it is on the internet, it is about audience attention, usability and interaction.

Which brings me Kindred Britain and The Origin of Species. These are great pieces of interactive data visualisation. You have the ‘far away’ view and the ‘close up’ view. The overview and the detailed information. There’s a bit of clever marketing with ‘The Origin of Species’ too. Sure you can sit there and read all the changes or you could buy their products based on these observed changes in time. I did wonder though, what happened to deleted pieces of the book from one edition to the next?

I loved the real time evolution of Darwin’s theory so much, I think it would be great to create a world view on the acceptance of earth being round and not flat. I might work on that but for now I have embedded some other graphs from this weeks tutorial tasks.