Category: Other : Data, Evidence, and Communication of the Public Good

(a) Provide an example from your own experience of an excellent visualization in the real world exemplifying any combination of Tufte’s objectives for effective data visualization. What did it do and how did it do it well? How did it elevate what otherwise could have been communicated with simple descriptive statistics? Based on your example, would you add any more principles to Tufte’s framework?

(b) Reflecting on any of the last four readings (Weber, Halloran, and the two planning documents), what visualization techniques (moreso the methods than the content) did you find most compelling? What recurring visual themes do they use? What are some ways these examples make their data expressive (in emotion or identity)?
Tufte. Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Ch. 1-3
› Wei. “Remove the Legend to Become One”. Remains of the Day.
https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2017/11/13/remove-the-legend
› Muth. “What to Consider When Choosing Colors for Data Visualization”. Datawrapper

How W.E.B. Du Bois Meticulously Visualized 20th-Century Black America

› Weber. “How W.E.B. Du Bois Meticulously Visualized 20th-Century
Black America”. Hyperallergic.
http://www.fallen.io/ww2/

 
(a) Why do you imagine we assigned Brian David Gilbert’s video immediately after Caffo/Peng/Leek’s ‘Executive Data Science’? Highlight some ways that Gilbert applies any of the five steps of the data science process. What are some general lessons about quantitative research that we could learn from either of these sources and apply to other topics?
 

(b) With Macdonald’s article in mind, reflect on how data collection, gathering, and interpretation are influenced by wider social, political, and cultural contexts and undercurrents in your own professional field.
 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01944360608976768
(c) Comment on anything unique or noteworthy in the way Molnar uses quantitative analysis in his profile of South Bend, IN to enable and enhance the socioeconomic insights he makes about how this community has changed over time.
https://westsb.com/features/morepeople-one