What is Data Visualization?

1. Geometric aids to perception

Back in the 1980s, data visualization has been commonly defined as the “transformation of the symbolic into the geometric”. (McCormick et al. 1987)

What does that mean in practice?

Source: Value of Visualization, Jeffrey Heer

So when we look at this table of numbers (left), it is hard for us to generate ANY hypothesis or conclusions at all by just looking at it. To get any insights, we would need to manually calculate the statistics. But when we plot them onto a graph (right), the trends become a lot more clear. We can spot a positive correlation by just looking at it.

2. Computer-generated graphs to amplify cognition

Later, when computers and the internet become more prevalent, data visualization became defined as “the use of computer-generated, interactive, visual representations with a goal to amplify cognition” (Card, Mackinlay & Shneiderman 1999).

And that brings us to our main topic of today, which is data visualization on web interfaces.

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