Dénes Csala PRO
Assistant Professor| Blogger | Datactivist
Dr. Csala Dénes
The language of data is visualisation 🌟
Elevate
24th June 2023
Lecturer
University of Bristol
Lancaster University
Data editor
Economics Observatory
1 ZB
ZETA-EXA-PETA
TERRA-GIGA-MEGA
Northeastern, 2016
attention
at tension
attention
at tension
London
is a nice city.
quarter of a second
Sabine Kastner et al., Princeton, 2018
250 millisec
attention poverty
"What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it."
Herbert Simon (as quoted by Hal Varian)
Scientific American, 1995
based on the UW CSE442 course and PARC UIR
Portrait of Herbert Simon - Richard Rappaport CC BY 3.0
Mitchell Kapor-t freely quoted
information overload
visualisation = understanding
"The ability to take data - to be able to understand it, to process it, to extract value from it, to visualize it, to communicate it - that's going to be a hugely important skill in the next decades, ...because now we really do have essentially free and ubiquitous data."
Hal Varian, Chief Economist, Google
The McKinsey Quarterly, 2009
based on UW CSE442
Hal Varian - Joi Ito CC BY 2.0
5:35
Arecibo Interstellar Message - Arne Nordmann CC BY-SA 3.0
data
information
knowledge
big data =
big responsibility
Datasaurus, Alberto Cairo, Autodesk, 2016
Bernardo:
Well, good night.
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.
picture superiority effect
Allan Paivio, 1971
based on David McCandless, Information is Beautiful, 2012
sight
touch
hear smell
taste
encode
decode
data visualisation = signal system
message
based on Jacques Bertin, Sémiologie Graphique, 1967
which rectangle is lighter?
212, 212, 212
+2 %
207, 207, 207
which circle is larger
how many
times?
7
how many times?
sensation=\newline intensity^x
sensation-intensity curve
Stanley Smith Stevens, 1957
electric shock
weight
taste
length
area
smell
volume
intensity ➡
sensation ➡
accuracy of visual attributes
most accurate
most distorting
based on Jock MacKinlay, 1986
position
length
slope
angle
area
volume
saturation
half(mis)information
half(mis)information
half(mis)information
half(mis)information
half(mis)information
half(mis)information
half(mis)information
half(mis)information
half(mis)information
can you do a better job?
data workshop
code-along
Interactive Data Lab / UW
Focus
Opacity
(Animation)
Theory
- ECO's data philosophy
- What is Vega-lite, GitHub, and the idea of embedding charts within HTML more broadly? Why is it better than using images?
Practical
- Using static data from a sample CSV (code along)
- Changing the chart spec in the Vega-lite editor
- Using dynamic data from a sample API (CSV then JSON)
- 🌟 ECO API 🌟
ECO API
api.econ.ac/gbr/unem
api.econ.ac/usa/unem
start in the ECO Data Hub
Arecibo Interstellar Message - Arne Nordmann CC BY-SA 3.0
data
information
knowledge
Altamira cave painting, i.e. 36 000
Ted Chiang, Eric Heisserer, Martine Bertrand, Stephen & Christopher Wolfram "Louise", in the alien language designed for movie Arrival, 2016 CC A-NC 4.0
Lecturer
University of Bristol
Lancaster University
Data editor
Economics Observatory
Dr. Csala Dénes
The language of data is visualisation 🌟
Elevate
24th June 2023
Elevate
By Dénes Csala
Elevate
At the Economics Observatory, we curate answers from globally leading economic experts that bridge the gap between academic research, government policy and the general public. We made it our mission to make these answers as accessible and engaging as possible – turning to conferences, a printed magazine and data storytelling tools, next to our main digital publication. In this talk, Dénes will guide you through the Economics Observatory editorial process – from data to article – trying to convince you on the way that the language of data is visualisation.
