Data visualization to simplify or data visualization to overload?
This picture has been taken from Smashing Magazine’s website.
While data visualization existed in some form since antiquity, the world of computer science and social networking has created a greater need than ever for infographics. That being said, people may lack the software that is necessary to make their own charts or tables. Office productivity software is sometimes able to make the graphics in question, but this usually requires users to familiarize themselves with a particular method of entering data. Likewise, it is easy to make a chart that is misleading. Misleading graphs could be mistaken as an attempt at dishonesty, and therefore, they are best avoided at all costs. Using a powerful set of tools does not need to be overly difficult, and one might find that it also is easy to convert their own digital data to infographics in-house.
One of the current trends seems to be towards providing collections of graphs and charts for readers to peruse at their leisure. While most people might think that an infographic is an island in a sea of text, they have become such an easy way to organize information that they are now being appreciated in their own right. This means that they also need to be made more quickly than in the past to make up for the demand. In the future, data visualization will probably occur at a faster rate than most people can even imagine at the moment.
Using dedicated do-it-yourself solutions constitute an excellent way to convert and manipulate infographics on a personal computer. Many people who read blogs expect to see images attached to their favorite websites. However, it oftentimes seems absurd to simply attach photographs without any reason. Perhaps with the trend towards collections of graphs that illustrate various news issues, more blogs will start to turn towards setting up their own collections. This is where DIY tools really get their chance to shine.
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