Tag: critique

  • Ivory Trade

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    This graphic from the New York Times looks at the illegal ivory trade out of Africa and into, primarily, the markets of Asia. I think the map works fairly well in showing why certain countries are centres for the illicit industry. But the two donut charts integrated into the graphic as part of the Indian…

  • Crossing the Detroit River (Panic in Detroit)

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    Brendan Barry
    in ,

    The National Post’s business section, branded separately as the Financial Post, posted a comment about a proposed bridge that would span the Detroit River and add a third major crossing to the Detroit–Windsor area. The comment used a graphic to explain one of the key points of the story, that early 21st century traffic projections…

  • Oil.

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Oil, sweet oil. How we depend upon you for modern civilisation. BP published a report on world energy that Craig Bloodworth visualised using Tableau. The piece has three tabs; one is for production, another consumption, and a third for reserves. (The screenshot above is for production.) But when I look at each view I wonder whether…

  • Follow the Money. And Enjoy a Donut on the Way. Or a Pie.

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Visualising government budgets is always fun. Until you realise that you are seeing where your money is going. But now we look at Australia’s expenditures. And as I pay nothing in taxes to Australia, I get to keep my fun. This piece is doing some interesting things within the framework of the donut chart I…

  • Economic Development in Africa

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    This falls under the just-because-it’s-about-geographies-doesn’t-mean-it-should-necessarily-be-visualised-as-a-map category. The Guardian has taken data from the African Economic Outlook, specifically real GDP growth rates, and charted them as a map. This caught my interest initially because of some work I have been doing that required me to read a report on African economic development in coming years. So…

  • A Not So Smart Smartphone Chart

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    This piece in the Globe and Mail of Toronto looks at smartphone usage by operating system through a comparison of Canada to both the United States and Japan. While I understand the need for aesthetic distinction from having an entire page of bar charts, these ring or donut charts are a touch misleading. Because of…

  • The Crisis in Syria

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    The crisis in Syria now resembles more of a civil war. The UN General Assembly has condemned the conflict and passed a resolution calling for Bashar al-Assad to step aside along with a host of other steps to resolve the conflict. However, nothing can happen until the Security Council agrees on a measure, which is…

  • The 2013 Budget Proposal Visualisation Comparison Part II

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    The previous two entries have been about visualisations of the administration’s budget proposal for 2013. Today’s will be (probably) the last in such a theme. Perhaps some wonder if not the bubbles and circles of the Times’ visualisation, what? Some might answer bar charts. Because we all love bar charts. But, as in this example…

  • The 2013 Budget Proposal Visualisation Comparison

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Yesterday’s post was about the administration’s 2013 budget proposal as visualised by the New York Times. This morning we have a brief comparison to the visualisation of the Washington Post. The main visualisation shows spending by department compared against revenue, the difference between being the grey box of deficit. Of note is that this piece…

  • 2013 Budget Proposal

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    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Normally, 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…