Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
relationships and how they are interconnected, it is difficult for an analyst
to gain sufficient enough understanding of the landscape to inform strategic
business decisions.
Figure 2-1
and
Figure 2-2
are useful charts. They share a common
characteristic in that they present a collection of slices of information.
However, it is impossible to take them in as a whole and come away with
a big picture. An analyst would instead read the charts serially, perhaps
prioritizingbasedonthemostinteresting-lookingcells,andmakeindividual
observations that could be then taken away and assembled into a portrayal
of the big picture in some other form. It might take the form of narrative
annotation and explanation, a manually drawn diagram, or both.
On the other hand, a graph is intrinsically diagrammatic, capable of
expressing the big picture without manual construction.
Figure 2-3
shows
one method of summarizing the same relationships between features using
a graph. Features with reasonably strong correlations within any or across
all of the species are linked, with dots on the links representing the scope of
correlation.
