Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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2013 Budget Proposal
Read on…: 2013 Budget ProposalNormally, I look forward to the release of the president’s budget proposed budget—fully understanding that it will never pass as proposed. We get to see lots of visualisations trying to show that we really do spend quite a lot on defence. And an awful lot on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. And a little bit on a lot of other…
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Adding Guided Context to Maps
Read on…: Adding Guided Context to MapsMaps are cool. They show the geographic distribution of data. And that is fantastic if there is a story in said distribution. But even if there is a story, sometimes given both the scale of the map and the amount of data encoded in the map, how could you possibly expect to find the story? Which little region of the…
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Circle Charts ca. 1937
Read on…: Circle Charts ca. 1937Another image from my 1930s algebra book is on pie charts, or what was then called circle charts. And while the utility of such a chart form has not changed, especially in these examples, the circle chart of the 1930s had one particular good use for students. Constructing it. Today a student plugs in numbers into a spreadsheet in Google…
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Replacing the Bay Bridge for the Long Term
Read on…: Replacing the Bay Bridge for the Long TermBridges are vital parts of infrastructure networks connecting two separate pieces of territory, but often they can be choke points. Damage to a bridge can result to isolation at worst and at best long, circuitous reroutes that add significant time to travel. In the San Francisco area authorities are building a new bridge to replace the current Bay Bridge. But…
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Picture Graphs ca. 1937
Read on…: Picture Graphs ca. 1937Among my legions of books are a few from my grandfather’s days when he was a student. After going through some photos yesterday, I realised that I had taken photos of his elementary school algebra text book. Among the first chapters was an entire section on graphing and chart types. I hope to go through these in more detail in…