KES 2 - Data Visualisation

The third session at the Knowledge Exchange Seminar on quantitative methods on the 26^th of September was from Scott Hale of the OII. The topic was Data Visualisation and he gave a quick run through of some of some of the pitfalls and problems encountered using visualisation software without really thinking about the story you want to tell with your data. He also showed examples of really helpful visualisations that made it possible for large, complex data to be viewed and understood. One key theme here was that, due to the challenges of representing the temporal dimension of social media data, interactivity was often required. Again, this raised the real issue of skills and expertise needed in the world of social media research and the requirement for working in multidisciplinary teams.

The question was raised about whether the network could provide details about data visualisation platforms and blogs and as there are already some great resources out there, I agree this is worth trying to pull together. I’ve begun compiling a list below and urge members to share theirs too!

Nathan Yau’s blog, Flowing Data http://flowingdata.com/ (Nathan is also author of the book Visualize This, a practical guide to visualisation http://book.flowingdata.com/ )

Andy Kirk’s blog, Visualising Data http://www.visualisingdata.com/  (Every month, Andy pulls together a list of the best visualisations on the web)

Moritz Stefaner’s blog, Well-formed Data http://well-formed-data.net/

David McCandless’s blog, Information is Beautiful http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/

The Award Winning Data Journalism Handbook, which has excellent chapters on data visualisation http://datajournalismhandbook.org/1.0/en/  

Hans Rosling’s TED Talks http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html