New Media 3: Data Visualization and Infographics

Hour 1

Storage before the computer

Our relationship to data has changed a lot over the last 50 years. Although civilizations have been writing things down for more than 5000 years, the quantity of data we can store has changed dramatically since the dawn of computing.

Before computers, storing information meant to write it down on a medium like a clay tablet or paper, and keep it somewhere safe. A library requires a lot of rooms to shelve its contents.

The bible, for example, is a big book: the Old and New Testament of the King James Bible together consist of 783,137 words. Yet, if you translate this information to bytes, you would only need 4.13 megabytes to save the entire text. That is about the size of a picture taken with your mobile phone.

Bytes and data collection

Then the predecessors of hard drives and USB sticks entered the scene in the 1950s. In 1957, one megabyte of storage cost a whopping $411,041,792. Today, the cost of one megabyte is $0.0027—a quarter of one cent!

As the price of storage capacity is decreasing, hard drives, USB sticks, and cloud storage are getting bigger. This enables us to store more information, but it also entices researchers and companies to collect more information. Even if we never look at this information again, why not keep it in case it becomes useful in the future? This allows social media to keep track of your actions online, and researchers to work with increasingly big datasets.

But all this information laid out in spreadsheets can be confusing, let alone if they contain millions of data points. To make sense of the data we are collecting, media, researchers, and companies create data visualizations that translate information into more comprehensible visual inputs.

Data visualization

Data visualization is everywhere. A simplified map of the city showing the metro lines and stops on brightly colored lines; a graph on how people voted during the elections; your heart rate on a smartphone or -watch. But even the simple act of tallying is a way to visualize data in a way that is easier to understand at a glance.

Depending on the data, there are different ways to visualize them. For example:

• Charts
  • Charts present data using tables, graphs, or diagrams, plots, or pictographs
• Maps
  • Maps present information in relation to geographical locations
• Timelines
  • Timelines present information in relation to the passing of time

The visualizations can in turn be used to tell a story using an infographic with the help of graphic design and (con)text.

An infographic is a design involving data visualizations, text, and other design elements put together to tell a story.

Infographics can also be made interactive when presented digitally, allowing users to interact with elements and influence the data that is shown (for example, by allowing users to adjust parameters like dates).

Explore Information Is Beautiful, Visual Capitalist, Daily Infographic, or Kursgesagt for infographic inspiration.

Students divide in groups to work on an infographic. Groups will read an article about mental health, decide together on a story they would like to tell using the data, and draw out a draft version.

Divide the students in groups of 3-4.

Research

Students will read the text and highlight any data they come across (percentages, charts, “one in five people” et cetera).

Concept

Groups brainstorm a concept for their infographic by discussing the following questions:

1. What numbers do we want to use? Which will we skip?
2. What point do we want to get across using this data?
3. How can we visualize the data? Which type of visualization will we use for which figure?
   1. Graph, barchart, pie chart, pictograph, timeline, etc.
   2. Draw inspiration from examples. Tip: search Pinterest or look at Information Is Beautiful or Daily Infographic, or Kursgesagt.
4. Groups come up with a title and a short introduction 50-75 words to go alongside the visual.

Hour 2

Making a poster

1. Groups brainstorm how to lay out the three different elements (title, text, and visual) of their infographic on a piece of paper (preferably A3). Additional design elements like illustrations or info bubbles are more than welcome.
2. Groups create their final infographics poster

Sharing and feedback

Groups present their infographics and receive feedback from class. Some useful questions:

1. Is it clear what the infographic wants to tell?
2. How does the infographic help to understand the data?
3. Do the text and the visual elements complement each other?

1. How does graphic design help to explain data?
2. How does an infographic’s intended audience influence its design?
3. Is data visualization unbiased?
4. How could the following parties use data visualization in their work? 1) newspaper, 2) scientists, 3) company, 4) artist
5. Why does it matter whether data “looks good”?