Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
In this example you have Income per Person on one axis and Life Expectantcy (an indicator of health) on the
other axis. The size of the bubbles represents population. Through the magic of animation, you can see how
the variables change over time, presenting you with a clear picture of the data. Go to Gapminder to experiment
with the data yourself.
www.gapminder.org/world
According to Rosling, a good example of professionals who have learned to present
(play) data to the public in a visual, direct, clear way are TV meteorologists. Basically,
they animate the weather. We can learn a lot from meteorologists, says Rosling,
“especially when you consider how many millions of data points they start out with. If
meteorologists tried to teach the public how to interpret their raw data, they would have
failed. But instead they discovered that some of them could summarize the data in
graphics and others were good at talking about the visualization of the data.”
Today, data displayed with slideware such as PowerPoint and Keynote is pretty static.
Generally, the only animation you see is simple reveals of layers or the introduction of
text elements in sync with the speaker. In the future, I hope to see more animation of data
—animation that allows “the data to sing” and become more meaningful and memorable.
Organizations such as Gapminder (
www.gapminder.org
) and companies such as
Tableau Software (
www.tableausoftware.com
) are already creating tools that make it
possible for presenters to animate data and display it quickly in ways that amplify the
meaning, engage the audience, and make things clear and memorable. There are
simply no more exuses to be dull. Do not simply display data—present the data so that
its story is revealed to all.
In Sum
