The speed with which the data visualisation trend has gripped the online world is reflected by the meteoric rise of David McCandless as an online thought leader. McCandless, author of 2009’s bestselling ‘Information is Beautiful,’ a staggering, thought provoking miscellany of visualised trends, statistics, and facts about the modern world which at times reimagines polemic as presentation of data is one of a new generation of data visualisation gurus.
David McCandless’ TED talk builds on the work of data visualisation luminaries such as Edward Tufte and TED veteran Hans Rosling. Where McCandless' work differs from these is in imbuing the technique with a journalistic sensibility. Tufte and Rosling’s work demonstrated how one can increase information density, parity, and richness through good visualisation, but McCandless goes one step further and combines this with an understanding of how to ask interesting questions and where to source the data. When he has done this, he simplifies the data, organises it, and adds a new dimension through visualisation.
As I will explain, this ability is possibly a double edged sword, but in a world where the origin of a story is as interesting as its tweeted journey into the collective conversation, McCandless is a true pioneer. He is inventing interfaces for data and taking it upon himself to make the complex simple.
People like McCandless have the potential to build bridges online between communities. Ethan Zuckermann’s fascinating talk pointed out that despite open forums online, we tend to hang out mostly with like-minded people. To branch out across boundaries, we need bridge builders, and Hans Rosling and David McCandless are good examples of such people.
An example of how data visualisation has the potential to build bridges between communities is David’s animated visualisation of the effect of herbal remedies , which in an elegant and simple way demystifies the effects of natural remedies on different diseases. Indeed, the paradox with this level of simplicity is that one starts to question the source and the methods. The simplification can turn the data into art rather than super data. To validate, challenge, and authenticate the stunning visualisations, we need good tools to drill into data. This criticism is recognised by McCandless, who has made the data for the herbal remedies visualisation open source .
The other roadblock to data visualisation branching across boundaries is feedback loops. Care must be taken that data visualisations and infographics do not merely mobilise certain like-minded groups online. Data visualisation must not merely become a tool for presenting a certain worldview. It is important that we trust the data. McCandless’ visualisation of the effect of herbal remedies is entitled ‘Snake Oil Supplements,’ and Good.is, the most vocal online champion of data visualisation, is clearly oriented towards those with an interest in social causes.
Data visualisation must remain a tool for everyone that can be trusted for unbiased analysis. It must resist the temptation of pandering those who provide it with the most support. If data visualisation can survive its rapid journey into the wider public consciousness without becoming a loud social media echo chamber, there is the potential for powerful data interfaces or even data experiences.
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