Teaching:TUW - UE InfoVis WS 2009/10 - Gruppe 12 - Aufgabe 2

Assignment

Description of the second exercise (German)

The original table

Critique of the given table

• It is not apparent for which region this statistic was made
• The table lacks a concise and meaningful title, which would offer the reader a short description of the table
• The table reflects various contexts:
  • The absolute number of the employed people in various industries
  • The absolute number of the unemployed people and the unemployment rate
  • The labour force participation rate
  • The absolute number of the people who are not in labour force
• The subgroups aren't comparable due to the differing contexts mentioned above
• Mixed percentage and absolute values (row- and column-wise)
• References to so-called "units" for percentage values
• The lack of percent signs for percentage values, which would make the cognition of the percentage values easier
• The alignment of the columns suggest constant time intervals between the time instants
• The age ranges are inconsistent and therefore not comparable
• Inconsistent row headers (e.g. "Employed, total" and "Unemployed")
• Inconsistent declarations for age ranges ("years of age" and "of those aged")
• Inconsistent date declaration for the column header "CHANGE"
• Inconsistent formatting (block letters, various text alignments, italic type, etc.)
• Too little vertical whitespace between rows

The revised table

Description of the undertaken improvements

• A concise and meaningful title has been added, which offers the reader a short description of the table
• The varying contexts or rather groups have been separated more clearly by applying bold row headers and alternating the fill color
• The declarations of the rows have been put in a designated column to separate the groups more clearly and to enhance readability
• Misleading references to "units" have been removed
• Percentage signs have been added to denote percentage values
• Special considerations have been made regarding the consistency of row headers, declarations, date formats and formatting to enable fast processing of information
• The years in the header have been aggregated to avoid distracting redundancy
• A different font and more vertical whitespace have been used to increase readability
• The number of lines has been reduced to avoid distraction from the content
• A comma have been placed to the left of every three whole-number digits
• Sums and summarizing values have been placed at the bottom of each group
• Missing values have been calculated wherever possible

Links

• InfoVis:Wiki UE Homepage
• UE InfoVis
• Gruppe 12