Confusing Graphs

Alison Snieckus, our presenter this week (Thursday at noon EST) on #VizMath, suggested we collect confusing graphs as well as helpful ones.  I found a few, but liked this one from a blog:


http://speakingppt.com/2012/10/18/whats-wrong-with-this-infographic/

The blogger who shaded it pointed out how it was misleading.  The point was to show how most tweets are done directly through Twitter.  But, as the blogger noted, the percentages add up to 138%!  And, the categories are not worked out well at all.  This is clearly a graph that is sloppy and gives math a bad name.  So, what was the purpose of this graph?

On to graphing!

Graphs can help us see our world clearer.  They can take data and give it meaning.  That is, of course, if we use the right kind of graph!  Over the next two weeks, we'll be talking about visualizing data in many ways.  Alison Snieckus will start by talking about graphing data. She used to work for ETS, so her life has been an immersion in data! 

In preparation for next week, and in a not-too-subtle attempt at increasing connections within our MOOC , we're asking people to share their favorite visualization through Twitter, using #vizmath so that our friend gRSShopper can pick it up and share through our daily posts.  So, please do so!  Search for #vizmath first to get inspired.  Then, go for it!

In my hunt for some of my favorites, I came across this neat site that will do visualizations for you.  Check it out- it's called "Many Eyes."  And it's free!

http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/