Numbers enjoy an aura of objectivity and precision unwarranted by their origins. They are always products of human judgment, even the numbers that seem to spring from computers untouched by humans. Counting – How We Use Numbers to Decide What Matters (2020), by Deborah Stone (MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning), examines the process[…]
Design for Information: An introduction to the histories, theories, and best practices behind effective information visualizations, was written by Isabel Meirelles in 2013. Meirelles, who is currently a Professor in the Faculty of Design at Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) University in Toronto, Canada, wrote the book when she was at Northeastern University. […]
Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World, by Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West, delivers a thoughtful introduction to critical thinking for the serious reader. Its provocative title is clearly intended to attract readership. After all, how many people would pick up a book simply named for the subtitle, The Art of Skepticism[…]
Data Feminism (2020) by Catherine D’Ignazio and Lauren F. Klein provides an important perspective about data and power. Those in power use data, intentionally or unintentionally, to maintain the status quo and oppress marginalized people. Yet data is a two-edged sword and those without power can use it to challenge the status quo. While inspired[…]
Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals (2015) by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic is the current #1 Bestseller in Information Management on Amazon for good reason. The book is a clear guide to chart design, helping readers move quickly from basic graphs to engaging and informative displays. Knaflic’s software-agnostic book will benefit all[…]
This is the second in a series of book reviews about data dashboards. In the first review, we looked at Information Dashboard Design: Displaying data for at-a-glance monitoring by Stephen Few. The Big Book of Dashboards: Visualizing Your Data Using Real-World Business Scenarios (2017) is the perfect complement to Stephen Few’s Information Dashboard Design. While[…]
2020 is the year of the dashboard! This is not because dashboards are new, but rather their use has exploded as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University remains the most popular dashboard, recording more than 4.5 billion views in a[…]
Making Data Visual – A Practical Guide to Using Visualization for Insight, by Danyel Fisher and Miriah Meyer is a slim volume that fills an important niche in the data visualization literature. It is not your typical data visualization book that provides tips on creating charts, the use of color, or the importance of annotation.[…]
Avoiding Data Pitfalls: How to Steer Clear of Common Blunders When Working with Data and Presenting Analysis and Visualizations, by Ben Jones (Founder and CEO of Data Literacy) is one of those rare books that you want to read, reread, put on your shelf, and then reread again once each year. Jones, a self-deprecating Canadian,[…]
The Charlottesville Fire Department (CFD) is using community volunteers to expand its capabilities and integrate data-driven processes into the core of its operations. Volunteers contribute both time and an expanded range of technical skills allowing CFD to focus on its core mission while also investigating new capabilities, forming unique data collaboratives. The era of regular[…]