Links on information visualization
A co-worker recently asked on twitter:
can anyone recommend any good books on data visualization? thanks.
I replied with a promise to send him some links, and I share that with you all today.
When it comes to books on the subject, the first and obvious choice is Edward Tufte. (Second is maybe Stephen Few, but I’ve read little from him.) Tufte has made a career out of voicing his opinions through books and a lecture series. People can react rather viscerally to his style of information presentation, but I like it. I think his books are a great way to learn the rules so you know how to break them later.
If you want to take the plunge, you can you my class’ syllabus for a suggested reading path through them. You really, really should read up on his concept of the data-ink ratio.
A lot of the info viz stuff you see on the net is ‘designed by designers for other designers’ and should be summarily dismissed. Here are a few blogs I deem worthy of sharing.
- 2010 Census Blog – Mostly policy and news here, but they had some interesting stats a while back. I hope for more once the data begins to be processed.
- Flight 404 – is Robert Hodgin. Formerly of the Barbarian Group where he created Magnetosphere. Now he works on Cinder.
- Flowing Data – One of the most practical blogs of this genre. I love them for their tutorials; check out this great intro to R.
- Information Aesthetics – Quite broad: everything from historical visualization methods to “creative advertising”.
- OkTrends – Online dating service uses tons of data to match people. Then they blog about it. A great example of a corporate blog. This and this are really interesting reads. Have I said too much?
- Stamen – The name of the game when it comes to actually doing stuff with data. These guys are my heroes. Bonus round: Stamen partner Michal’s ffffound and links.
- Ben Fry – He co-created Processing.
