Better numbers: Visualization of data

Last week my team was trading emails on cool sites showing graphs and other plotting of numbers in a visual way.

Yes, we are geeks. But the results seen here are intriguing, sometimes beautiful images that deliver a story about numbers.

Kristin started it on The Inspiration Blog with 22 charts that look more like college dorm room posters. Anneliese chimed in with Nonsensical infographics, and I brought in Flip Flop Fly Ball, where baseball stats meet art.

And that led to a TED talk on why visualizing data is important. Give a listen to David McCandless:

Excel is doing its part to show off your data with new tools, including Slicers and Sparklines. See more about Excel--including design tips and an Excel music video--at The Office Show.

--Doug Thomas

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  • Surely Gapminder has to be on anyone's list of outstanding data visualisation tools:

    http://www.gapminder.org/

  • Huw: Yes, I remember seeing a talk by him online too. A great one....

  • Doug - he (i.e. Hans Rosling, who's mentioned by David Mccandless) has given several TED talks, but this one has the most unexpected ending:

    www.ted.com/.../hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty.html

  • Why doesn't MS seek to integrate some of the functionality of Gapminder into Excel - maybe via an add-on? The data is already all available in suitable formats. What if it were available via the OWA? Just a thought.

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