Handling Data - Data Points: Visualization That Means Something - page 22

Gather Data
Data is the core of any visualization. Fortunately, there are a lot of places
to find it. You can get it from experts in the area you're interested in, a
variety of online applications, or you can gather it yourself.
Provided by Others
This route is common, especially if you're a freelance designer or work in
a graphics department of a larger organization. This is a good thing a lot
of the time because someone else did all the data gathering work for you,
but you still need to be careful. A lot of mistakes can happen along the way
before that nicely formatted spreadsheet gets into your hands.
When you share data with spreadsheets, the most common mistake to look
for is typos. Are there any missing zeros? Did your client or data supplier
mean six instead of five? At some point, data was read from one source and
then input into excel or a different spreadsheet program (unless a delim-
ited text file was imported), so it's easy for an innocent typo to make its way
through the vetting stage and into your hands.
You also need to check for context. You don't need to become an expert
in the data's subject matter, but you should know where the original data
came from, how it was collected, and what it's about. This can help you
build a better graphic and tell a more complete story when you design
your graphic. For example, say you're looking at poll results. When did
the poll take place? Who conducted the poll? Who answered? Obviously,
poll results from 1970 are going to take on a different meaning from poll
results from the present day.
Finding Sources
If the data isn't directly sent to you, it's your job to go out and find it. The
bad news is that, well, that's more work on your shoulders, but the good
news is that's it's getting easier and easier to find data that's relevant
and machine-readable (as in, you can easily load it into software). Here's
where you can start your search.