Designing Data Products - Data Fluency: Empowering Your Organization with Effective Data Communication - page 230

up the page with pie charts, line and bar graphs, and a series of gauges that
display information from a variety of sources.
There are real problems with this definition of a dashboard, as shown in
Figure A-3.
Figure A-3 The dictionary definition of “dashboard”
In reality, the one-page rule leads to jamming information into the available
space. When everything must fit on a page, there isn't room to describe the
connections between information or fashion a story from the data. A good
dashboard raises more questions than it can answer. Sticking to a static piece
of paper limits any ability to find or present explanations.
Don't get me wrong: A one-page dashboard is often an effective way to cre-
ate “a visual display of the most important information needed to achieve
one or more objectives.” But with streaming video, interactive visualizations,
podcasts, Kindles, smartphones, video projectors . . . is it necessary to limit
ourselves to an 8.5˝ x 11˝ piece of paper? Or might we open ourselves up to
some more creative solutions to sharing the numbers: a short movie, a few
slides, a short text narrative, or 140 characters.
I'd like to use this definition instead, as shown in Figure A-4.
Figure A-4 A better dashboard definition