Workshop on Data Visualization with historical examples, interactive examples, and key steps for creating interactive visualizations

1. UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Data visualization workshop
Peter Speyer Kyle Foreman
Director of Data Development PhD Candidate
IHME Imperial CollegeJune 18, 2013

2. Agenda
• Introduction
• Interactive visualizations
• GBD visualizations: examples in a research setting
• The main steps for visualizing data
• Practical example
• Final questions
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3. Why do we visualize data?
Review data
• Make sense of large amounts
of data
• Explore patterns and trends
• Evaluate research results
• Find stories
Communicate results
• Make data engaging
• Cut through the clutter
• Let users explore the data
• Use for presentations
• Tell stories
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4. 4John Snow’s map of cholera cases in London, 1854

5. 5Florence Nightingale, Deaths on Crimean Peninsula, 1858

6. 6Charles Joseph Minard’s map of Napoleon’s Russian campaign of 1812, published 1869

7. 7Gapminder World, http://www.gapminder.org, founded 2005

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9. “People are generally better persuaded
by the reasons
which they have themselves discovered
than by those
which have come into the mind of others”
Blaise Pascal
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10. Agenda
• Introduction
• Interactive visualizations
• GBD visualizations: examples in a research setting
• The main steps for visualizing data
• Practical example
• Final questions
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11. Agenda
• Introduction
• Interactive visualizations
• GBD visualizations: examples in a research setting
• The main steps for visualizing data
• Practical example
• Final questions
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12. Global Burden of Disease 2010 - Results
291 causes / 4 hierarchical levels
67 risk factors / 2 levels
21 age groups (3 infant age groups, 1-4, 5-9 … 75-79, 80+)
Female/male/both
187 countries
1990, 2005, 2010
4 key metrics (deaths, YLLs, YLDs, DALYs)
Uncertainty bounds
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13. Use of visualizations for research
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Improving the
research work flow:
Mortality Visualization
COD Visualization
Review results:
GBD Compare
Share results & tell
stories:
GBD Cause Patterns
GBD Arrow Diagrams
Evaluating policy
impact:
Benchmarking tool

14. Agenda
• Introduction
• Interactive visualizations
• GBD visualizations: examples in a research setting
• The main steps for visualizing data
• Practical example
• Final questions
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15. Be clear about your objectives
• What do I want to do / communicate?
• Am I telling a story or letting users
explore?
• What is my audience? How much do
they know about the topic? About
statistics? About visualizations?
15HikingArtist via Flickr

16. Prepare the data
• Identify all relevant available data
• Become intimate with your dataset(s):
metrics, units, dimensions, uncertainty
• Prepare data: Excel, Google Refine,
Data Wrangler, AP’s Overview
16Kikishua via Flickr

17. Build it
• Select the right type of visual
– Highlight your point
– Keep it simple
• Select the degree of interactivity
• Select the right visualization tool:
start simple
– Excel
– Public tools: Google Motion Charts,
Tableau Public, ArcGIS.com
– Custom coding: D3.js, Highcharts
– Maps: visualization vs. GIS
17Edwc via Flickr

18. Final thoughts
• Facilitate viral communication
– Permalinks
– Social media integration
– Embedding visualizations
– Download screenshot
• Working with software developers
– Requirements
– Testing
– Documentation
– Priorities
18ocean.flynn via Flickr

19. How do I know if I succeeded?
19Mr. Aktugan via Flickr

20. Further reading & inspiration
• http://flowingdata.com/
• http://blog.visual.ly/
• http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/
• http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/
• http://visualization.geblogs.com/
• http://eagereyes.org/
• http://chartporn.org/
• http://worldbank.tumblr.com/
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21. Agenda
• Introduction
• Interactive visualizations
• GBD visualizations: examples in a research setting
• The main steps for visualizing data
• Practical example
• Final questions
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22. Questions?
speyer@uw.edu
kyleforeman@gmail.com
http://ihmeuw.org/gbd
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