Understanding Data - Data Points: Visualization That Means Something - page 41

With data like the Gawker set, a deep analysis might be interesting, but it could
also do more harm than good. In this case, data privacy is more important, so
it's better to limit what you show and look at.
Whether you should use data is not always clear-cut though. Sometimes, the
split between what's right and wrong can be gray, so it's up to you to make
the call. For example, on October 22, 2010, Wikileaks, an online organization
that releases private documents and media from anonymous sources, released
391,832 United States Army field reports, now known as the Iraq War Logs.
The reports recorded 66,081 civilian deaths out of 109,000 recorded deaths,
between 2004 and 2009.
The leak exposed incidents of abuse and erroneous reporting, such as civilian
deaths classified as “enemy killed in action.” On the other hand, it can seem
unjustified to publish findings about classified data obtained through less
than savory means.
Maybe there should be a golden rule for data: Treat others' data the way you
would want your data treated.
In the end, it comes back to what data represents. Data is an abstraction of
real life, and real life can be complicated, but if you gather enough context,
you can at least put forth a solid effort to make sense of it.
WRAPPING UP
Visualization is often thought of as an exercise in graphic design or a brute-
force computer science problem, but the best work is always rooted in data.
To visualize data, you must understand what it is, what it represents in the
real world, and in what context you should interpret it in.
Data comes in different shapes and sizes, at various granularities, and with
uncertainty attached, which means totals, averages, and medians are only a
small part of what a data point is about. It twists. It turns. It fluctuates. It can be
personal, and even poetic. As a result, you can find visualization in many forms.