InfoVis:Wiki - User contributions [en]

Few, Stephen

2015-07-16T23:40:22Z

Bpierce: Updated list of books and years of experience

''' Stephen Few ''' has worked over 30 years as an IT innovator, consultant, and educator. Today, as Principal of the consultancy Perceptual Edge, Stephen focuses on data visualization for analyzing and communicating quantitative business information. He provides consulting and training services, writes a monthly data visualization newsletter, speaks frequently at conferences like TDWI and DAMA, and teaches in the MBA program at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of four books: ''Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten'' (2004), ''Information Dashboard Design: Displaying Data for at-a-Glance Monitoring'' (2006), ''Now You See It: Simple Visualization Techniques for Quantitative Analysis'' (2009), and ''Signal: Understanding What Matters in a World of Noise'' (2015).

== External links ==

*[http://www.perceptualedge.com/ Perceptual Edge's Home Page]

[[Category:Persons]]

Chart Junk

2014-04-02T20:47:19Z

Bpierce: Undid previous change

==Definition(s)==

{{Quotation|Chartjunk is a term for unnecessary or confusing visual elements in charts and graphs. Markings and visual elements can be called chartjunk if they are not part of the minimum set of visuals necessary to communicate the information understandably. Examples of unnecessary elements which might be called chartjunk include heavy or dark grid lines, ornamented chart axes and display frames, pictures or icons within data graphs, and ornamental shading.|[wikipedia.org, 2005]}}

{{Quotation|"The interior decoration of graphics generates a lot of ink which does not tell the viewer anything new. The purpose of the decoration varies - to make the graphic appear more scientific, to enliven the display, to give the designer an opportunity to exercise artistic skill. Regardless of the cause, it is all non-data-ink or redundant data-ink, and it is often chartjunk."|[Tufte, 1983]}}

'''Source(s):''' [http://www.downloadranking.com Chart Junk]

==Key Words==
Chart Junk, Unecessary Information, 3D Bar

==Abstract==
With modern technologies in the field of office work, reporting and presenting got a major boost in the last few years. The everywhere available color beamer for presentations and easily accessible software has forced a tremendous rise in colorful and media enriched presentations throughout branches.
Does more color and media always help to get the point of a message? Or is it mostly distracting the viewer from the spot of interest? This article wants to focus on what is called "Chart Junk" and defines the parts of charts that are not carrying essentail information, that are not even neutral, but which do disturb the visualization of the data.

==Examples==

===3D Bar Chart===
The Icon of the Microsoft® Office Excel "Diagramm-Assistent" shows exactly what it mostly produces, namely ''Chart Junk''. This can be easily seen when we enlarge the picture and mark the points which do not carry information.

<center>
[[Image:Icon3.jpg|MS-Icon]] 
[The Microsoft Coorporation, 2002]
</center>

The following picture of a 3D Barplot in Excel shows which parts do not carry information and are thus just distracting the viewer away from the real point of interest. This is the height of the bars, which represents some numerical value.

<center>
[[Image:3Dbars02.jpg|250px|3D-bars]] 
[Seyfang, 2005]
</center>

There is no information in the use of the 3rd dimension which heavily influences the pictures and very much drives the attention towards the depth of the bars and the underlying grid. But this is not at all the information which schould be transported.

As a very important fact, the proportions of the areas represented by 3D bars are not in a relation to the actual data value represented. This is because the bar is more or less represented with the front part, the rectangle, and in addition to this with the two parts giving the impression of the 3rd dimension (which are chart junk per definition). The mistake in the proportion is called [[Teaching:TUW_-_UE_InfoVis_WS_2005/06_-_Gruppe_G4_-_Aufgabe_1_-_Lie_Factor|lie factor]].



===Presentation===
The image below also gives a good idea what is meant by "Chart Junk". The Dollar signs are not at all helpful for the point of interest. This is the way the amount of money develops over the years. As the example shows, this is best presented by a simple line [Maggie Elgin, 2005].

<center>
[[Image:Junk1.gif]] 
[Maggie Elgin, 2005]
</center>

===Confusing graphic===

The following graphic also contains chart junk. The logos giving a hint what the lines are dealing with are far more than the minimum needed to present the desired information. This goes along with the definition of chart junk as found on wikipedia.org.

<center>

[[Image:Few04tracking-trends.gif]] 
[Few, 2004]
</center>

==Conclusion==
To sum up it is to say that Chart Junk is something completely unnecessary. Someone should always stick to the essential part of what he or she wants to deliver to the audience.

Additionally most Chart Junk is produced because of vanity, and maybe even more because of bad software. It takes some time and experience to find out what is essential, without making boring and sleepy presentations and charts. This time is to be respected, and to be taken serious. Deliver data and information in a efficient and clear way is a major task, even a science.

Maybe when you are working on your next chart or presentation, and your software suggests some fancy but distracting methods, you just consider the statement below!

<center>
''"Kill the frills and get to the point!"'' [Tufte, 1997]
</center>

== Related Links ==
Viveka Weiley, [http://chartjunk.karmanaut.com/ Ice Age, or How to Avoid Frightening your Readers by Hiding the Key Data Point]

==Bibliography==
[wikipedia.org, 2004] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Created at: June 22, 2004, Retrieved at: October 22, 2005 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartjunk

[Tufte, 1983] Edward R. Tufte, ''The Visual Display of Quantitative Information''. 2nd Edition, Graphics Press, Cheshire, Connecticut, 1983.

[Tufte, 1997] Edward R. Tufte, ''Visual Explanations'', Graphics Press, Cheshire, Connecticut, 1997.

[AHK]
AHK, Die deutschen Auslandshandelskammern in Mercosur. Retrieved at: October 22, 2005 
http://www.mercosur-info.com/al/handelsstatistiken.shtml

[Few, 2004] Stephen Few, Tracking the Trends, Common Mistakes in Data Presentation, ''intelligent enterprise'', August 7, 2004. Retrieved at: Oct 11, 2005.

[Maggie Melgin, 2005] Presenting Data in Tables and Charts - Module 2, University of Maryland. Retrieved at: October 28, 2005. http://polaris.umuc.edu/~melgin/ucsp630/mod2/chap02/sld068.htm

[[Category:Glossary]]

Chart Junk

2014-04-02T16:14:47Z

Bpierce: Corrected attribution of Tracking the Trends chart

==Definition(s)==

{{Quotation|Chartjunk is a term for unnecessary or confusing visual elements in charts and graphs. Markings and visual elements can be called chartjunk if they are not part of the minimum set of visuals necessary to communicate the information understandably. Examples of unnecessary elements which might be called chartjunk include heavy or dark grid lines, ornamented chart axes and display frames, pictures or icons within data graphs, and ornamental shading.|[wikipedia.org, 2005]}}

{{Quotation|"The interior decoration of graphics generates a lot of ink which does not tell the viewer anything new. The purpose of the decoration varies - to make the graphic appear more scientific, to enliven the display, to give the designer an opportunity to exercise artistic skill. Regardless of the cause, it is all non-data-ink or redundant data-ink, and it is often chartjunk."|[Tufte, 1983]}}

'''Source(s):''' [http://www.downloadranking.com Chart Junk]

==Key Words==
Chart Junk, Unecessary Information, 3D Bar

==Abstract==
With modern technologies in the field of office work, reporting and presenting got a major boost in the last few years. The everywhere available color beamer for presentations and easily accessible software has forced a tremendous rise in colorful and media enriched presentations throughout branches.
Does more color and media always help to get the point of a message? Or is it mostly distracting the viewer from the spot of interest? This article wants to focus on what is called "Chart Junk" and defines the parts of charts that are not carrying essentail information, that are not even neutral, but which do disturb the visualization of the data.

==Examples==

===3D Bar Chart===
The Icon of the Microsoft® Office Excel "Diagramm-Assistent" shows exactly what it mostly produces, namely ''Chart Junk''. This can be easily seen when we enlarge the picture and mark the points which do not carry information.

<center>
[[Image:Icon3.jpg|MS-Icon]] 
[The Microsoft Coorporation, 2002]
</center>

The following picture of a 3D Barplot in Excel shows which parts do not carry information and are thus just distracting the viewer away from the real point of interest. This is the height of the bars, which represents some numerical value.

<center>
[[Image:3Dbars02.jpg|250px|3D-bars]] 
[Seyfang, 2005]
</center>

There is no information in the use of the 3rd dimension which heavily influences the pictures and very much drives the attention towards the depth of the bars and the underlying grid. But this is not at all the information which schould be transported.

As a very important fact, the proportions of the areas represented by 3D bars are not in a relation to the actual data value represented. This is because the bar is more or less represented with the front part, the rectangle, and in addition to this with the two parts giving the impression of the 3rd dimension (which are chart junk per definition). The mistake in the proportion is called [[Teaching:TUW_-_UE_InfoVis_WS_2005/06_-_Gruppe_G4_-_Aufgabe_1_-_Lie_Factor|lie factor]].



===Presentation===
The image below also gives a good idea what is meant by "Chart Junk". The Dollar signs are not at all helpful for the point of interest. This is the way the amount of money develops over the years. As the example shows, this is best presented by a simple line [Maggie Elgin, 2005].

<center>
[[Image:Junk1.gif]] 
[Maggie Elgin, 2005]
</center>

===Confusing graphic===

The following graphic also contains chart junk. The logos giving a hint what the lines are dealing with are far more than the minimum needed to present the desired information. This goes along with the definition of chart junk as found on wikipedia.org.

<center>

[[Image:Few04tracking-trends.gif]] 
[Newsweek, November 24, 2003]
</center>

==Conclusion==
To sum up it is to say that Chart Junk is something completely unnecessary. Someone should always stick to the essential part of what he or she wants to deliver to the audience.

Additionally most Chart Junk is produced because of vanity, and maybe even more because of bad software. It takes some time and experience to find out what is essential, without making boring and sleepy presentations and charts. This time is to be respected, and to be taken serious. Deliver data and information in a efficient and clear way is a major task, even a science.

Maybe when you are working on your next chart or presentation, and your software suggests some fancy but distracting methods, you just consider the statement below!

<center>
''"Kill the frills and get to the point!"'' [Tufte, 1997]
</center>

== Related Links ==
Viveka Weiley, [http://chartjunk.karmanaut.com/ Ice Age, or How to Avoid Frightening your Readers by Hiding the Key Data Point]

==Bibliography==
[wikipedia.org, 2004] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Created at: June 22, 2004, Retrieved at: October 22, 2005 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartjunk

[Tufte, 1983] Edward R. Tufte, ''The Visual Display of Quantitative Information''. 2nd Edition, Graphics Press, Cheshire, Connecticut, 1983.

[Tufte, 1997] Edward R. Tufte, ''Visual Explanations'', Graphics Press, Cheshire, Connecticut, 1997.

[AHK]
AHK, Die deutschen Auslandshandelskammern in Mercosur. Retrieved at: October 22, 2005 
http://www.mercosur-info.com/al/handelsstatistiken.shtml

[Few, 2004] Stephen Few, Tracking the Trends, Common Mistakes in Data Presentation, ''intelligent enterprise'', August 7, 2004. Retrieved at: Oct 11, 2005.

[Maggie Melgin, 2005] Presenting Data in Tables and Charts - Module 2, University of Maryland. Retrieved at: October 28, 2005. http://polaris.umuc.edu/~melgin/ucsp630/mod2/chap02/sld068.htm

[[Category:Glossary]]

Template:RecentPublications

2010-08-03T18:14:56Z

Bpierce:

<big>'''Recent Publications'''</big>


*[[Few, Stephen: Now You See It: Simple Visualization Techniques for Quantitative Analysis, Analytics Press, 2009]]
*[[Mazza, R.: Introduction to Information Visualization, Springer-Verlag, London, 2009]]
*[[Ware, C.: Visual Thinking for Design, Morgan Kaufman/Elsevier, 2008]]
*[[Kerren, A., Stasko, J.T., Fekete J.-D., and North C. (Eds.): Information Visualization, volume 4950 of LNCS State-of-the-Art Survey, Springer, 2008]]
*[[Diehl, S.: Software Visualization, Springer, 2007]]
*[[Zhang, J.: Visualization for Information Retrieval, Springer, 2008]]
*[[Spence, R.: Information Visualization - Design for Interaction (2nd Edition), Pearson Education, 2006]]
*[[Kerren, A., Ebert, A. and Meyer J. (Eds.): Human-centered Visualization Environments, volume 4417 of LNCS Tutorial, Springer, 2007]]
*[[Tufte, E.R.: Beautiful Evidence, Graphics Press, 2006]]
*[[Andrienko, N. and Andrienko G.: Exploratory Analysis of Spatial and Temporal Data - A Systematic Approach, Springer, 2005]]
*[[Tergan, S. O. and Keller T.: Knowledge and Information Visualization - Searching for Synergies, Springer, 2005.]]
*[[Buurman, G.M., Total interaction theory and practice of a new paradigm for the design disciplines. 2005, Basel: Birkhäuser.]]

Few, Stephen: Now You See It: Simple Visualization Techniques for Quantitative Analysis, Analytics Press, 2009

2010-08-03T17:58:15Z

Bpierce: New page: Type: Book/Hardback Author: Few, Stephen Pages: 327 Publisher: Analytics Press Publication Date: 2009 URL: http://www.per...

Type: Book/Hardback 
Author: [[Few, Stephen]] 
Pages: 327 
Publisher: Analytics Press 
Publication Date: 2009 
URL: http://www.perceptualedge.com/library.htm 

{{ISBN|097060198}}

[[Category:Books]]

Few, Stephen: Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data, O'Reilly Media, 2006.

2010-08-03T17:47:01Z

Bpierce:

Type: Book/Paperback 
Author: [[Few, Stephen]] 
Pages: 223 
Publisher: O'Reilly Media 
Publication Date: 2006 
URL: http://www.perceptualedge.com/library.htm 

{{ISBN|0596100167}}

[[Category:Books]]

Few, Stephen: Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten, Analytics Press, 2004.

2010-08-03T17:46:18Z

Bpierce:

Type: Book/Hardback 
Author: [[Few, Stephen]] 
Pages: 280 
Publisher: Analytics Press 
Publication Date: 2004 
URL: http://www.perceptualedge.com/library.htm 

{{ISBN|0970601999}}

[[Category:Books]]

Template:Conferences

2007-09-04T17:29:52Z

Bpierce:

*[[HCII 2007]]: July 22-27, 2007, Beijing, China. HCI International - 12th International Conference on '''Human-Computer Interaction'''.
*[[APGV 07]]: July 25-27, 2007, Tübingen, Germany. 4th Symposium on '''Applied Perception in Graphics and Visualization'''.
*[[GeoVis 07]]: August 2-3, 2007, Helsinki, Finland. Workshop '''From geovisualization toward geovisual analytics'''.
*[[VIIP 2007]]: August 29-31, 2007, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, The 7th IASTED International Conference on '''Visualization, Imaging, and Image Processing'''.
*[[EG 2007]]: September 3-7, 2007, Prague, Czech Republic. Annual Conference of the '''European Association for Computer Graphics'''.
*[[KVD'07]]: September 5, 2007, Graz, Austria. I-KNOW ´07 special track on Knowledge Visualization and Knowledge Discovery 2007.
*[[VLC’2007]]: September 6-8, 2007, San Francisco Bay, USA. International Workshop on '''Visual Languages and Computing'''.
*[[ViSPLE 2007]]: September 10, 2007, Kyoto, Japan. 1st International Workshop on '''Visualisation in Software Product Line Engineering'''.
*[[GD 2007]]: September 23–26, 2007, Sydney, Australia. 15th International Symposium on '''Graph Drawing'''.
*[[Stephen Few to teach public data visualization workshops in Australia]]: October 3-5, 2007 in Sydney and October 17-19, 2007 in Brisbane.
*[[InfoVis 2007]]: October 28-30, 2007, Sacramento, CA, USA. IEEE Symposium on '''Information Visualization'''.
*[[VAST 2007]]: October 29-31, 2007, Sacramento, USA. IEEE Symposium on '''Visual Analytics Science and Technology''.
*[[VizSEC 2007]]: October 28-30, 2007, Sacramento, CA, USA. Workshop on '''Visualization for Computer Security'''.
*[[WMD 2007]]: November 15, 2007, Nagoya, Japan. Workshop on '''Massive Datasets'''.
*[[usab-symposium 2007|USAB 2007]]: November 22, 2007. Graz, Austria. '''Usability & HCI for Medicine and Health Care''' - 3rd Usability Symposium of the Austrian Computer Society.
*[[VIEW 2007]]: December 3-4, 2007, Nyíregyháza, Hungary. 2nd '''Visual Information Expert Workshop'''.
*[[VISIGRAPP 2008]]: January 22-25, 2008, Funchal - Madeira, Portugal. International Joint Conference on '''Computer Vision and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications'''.
*[[PacificVis 2008]]: March 5-7, 2008, Kyoto, Japan. 2008 IEEE Pacific '''Visualization Symposium'''.
*[[BIOSTEC 2008]]: January 28-31, 2008, Funchal - Madeira, Portugal. Internacional Joint Conference on '''Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies'''.
*[[VC 2008]]: March 17-19, 2008, Innsbruck, Austria. 1st IASTED International Conference on '''Visual Communications'''.
*[[IASTED-HCI 2008]]: March 17-19,2008, Innsbruck, Austria. The third IASTED International Conference on '''Human-Computer Interaction'''.
*[[BELIV'08]]: April 5, 2008, Florence, Italy. [[CHI 2008]] Workshop '''BEyond time and errors: novel evaLuation methods for Information Visualization'''.
*[[CHI 2008]]: April 5-10, 2008, Florence, Italy. Conference on '''Human Factors in Computing Systems'''.
*[[WEBIST 2008]]: May 4-7, 2008, Funchal - Madeira, Portugal. Internacional Conference on '''Web Information Systems and Technologies'''.

Stephen Few to teach public data visualization workshops in Australia

2007-09-04T17:25:00Z

Bpierce: New page: *'''Title''': Stephen Few to teach public data visualization workshops in Australia *'''Date:''' October 3-5 and 17-19, 2007 *'''Location:''' Sydney and [[wikipedia:B...

*'''Title''': Stephen Few to teach public data visualization workshops in Australia
*'''Date:''' October 3-5 and 17-19, 2007
*'''Location:''' [[wikipedia:Sydney|Sydney]] and [[wikipedia:Brisbane|Brisbane]], [[wikipedia:Australia|Australia]]
*'''Homepage:''' http://www.intalign.com/

Stephen Few will be teaching all three of his visual communication and analysis courses in both cities:
*''Table and Graph Design for Effective Communication''
*''Dashboard Design for at-a-Glance Monitoring''
*''Visual Data Analysis for Discovery and Understanding''

[[Category:Events]]