The way you visualize, interact with and perceive a piece of information can be the difference in being able to understand and assimilate that information. You’ve probably been to an exhibition or a museum, or even used apps and websites with graphs, maps, timelines, diagrams, or any other playful resource that helped you better understand what was being shown.
The idea of data visualization emerged in the 1760s, but intensified in the following century. From the 20th century onwards, this type of art already had an impact on science, technology and social movements, making the world seen and understood in the light of different sources of knowledge.
We can see some examples in history: did you know that the word statistics comes from the Latin expression statisticum collegium, which relates to the analysis of state affairs? The earliest statistical charts examined the territory, population and monetary powers of states. As more data was collected, with greater detail and specificity, its visualization contributed to social science and public health, promoting a better understanding of geography, economics and the many dimensions of human life.
Even in wars and social causes, data plays an extremely important role – in the civil war in the United States, abolitionists used the census to map the African-American population and then, over the years, to further characterize the newly emancipated.
Proportion of colored population, 1880 US census. Henry Gannett, USCensus Office United States 1883, New York. Credit: Stanford Libraries
Trying to unravel data and what it represents is a task that, despite seeming complicated, becomes much simpler when it is clearly visualized and when interactive means are applied. So let’s find out a little more about what is meant by data and how interactive tools help people relate to it!
What is it?
Data is basically a fact that seeks to convey some information. Since the dawn of humanity, human beings have used various ways to record events and knowledge, with drawings in caves, texts on parchment, letters and books. Nowadays, most of what we are and what we do is stored digitally.
It is with technology that it becomes easier to display data in an interactive way: with the use of data analysis software, it is possible to create a visualization in which users can manipulate and explore the information through interactive tools, so that they can see more details, question and capture what it really means.
Imagine you’re in an exhibition about carbon dioxide emissions – there are graphs and maps with lots of data about it. There’s also a panel for you to find out your carbon footprint, i.e. how much you contribute to the emission of this gas through your daily activities, such as the number of portions of coffee you consume per week and the household appliances you use. All this makes the data clearer for the user, because they can apply it to their reality.
The cool thing is that the experience of interacting with this information ends up being unique for each user, since we all have different lives and interests and will relate to the data in a specific and unique way.
There are many possibilities: interactivity can be visual, sensory, immersive, with technological equipment… a variety of playful means capable of interacting with the human brain.
To develop interactive elements for data visualization, you need to assess what information there is and how to present it to the recipient. How can the data be presented to ensure that the user can easily understand it? Will interactions help improve understanding?
Like any project, it needs to be tested, and the user’s opinion will be taken into account. The idea is to build something that facilitates learning, so those who are learning need to say whether the objective is being achieved.
Interactive data is a great alternative for disseminating knowledge — most people are visual, because the human brain processes images faster than text. Thus, the user is able to interpret and establish a cause-effect relationship with the information displayed. Images and interactivity have the power to uncomplicate complex data, bringing it closer to what people already know and understand.
Examples
1. Earth Bits
Remember the exhibition on carbon dioxide emissions we mentioned up there? It exists. It’s Earth Bits – Sensing the Planetary, by Dotdotdot. In fact, it is not limited to the problem of carbon dioxide, but explores the principles of energy transition and the climate crisis as a whole, analyzing the relationship between people and the planet. Her aim is to understand the repercussions of human choices and the impact our actions have on the environment.
Visitors can interact with the information through animated graphics and videos based on scientific evidence, with the interactive station allowing them to tinker with the data, guided by sounds and a wallpaper painted with satellite data.
2. COVID-19 in the world
With the pandemic, thousands of data points have emerged on COVID-19 cases and deaths around the world. In the dashboard developed by the CSSE (Center for Systems Science and Engineering) at Johns Hopkins University, it is possible to see how each country is dealing with the disease, including the number of vaccine doses applied.
3. Banksy Graffiti Around the World
This map showing Banksy’s graffiti around the world was created by André Oliveira. You click on the place and you can see the artwork there, and there’s also a story about how the work was done (of course, nothing is confirmed, since, as everyone knows, Banksy is a mystery!). The design is all reminiscent of the artist’s work, which helps the visualization come to life.
4. Languages in the world
Density Designs’ World Languages Graphic analyzes the language situation in the world, and the first piece of information is how many languages there are in the world: 2,678! Imagine learning all that! They also show other information about languages and dialects: where the languages are spoken, the most popular language families, the number of speakers, the 10 most used languages, the exchange between languages and the linguistic hierarchy. And all of this in a way that anyone can understand, even non-native speakers.
5. The Daily Routines of Famous Creative People
Curious to know what the most renowned artists, writers and musicians did during their day? We’ll tell you how! Just go to Daily Routines of Famous Creative People and you’ll find out how they divided up their tasks, with the times of day and how long each one lasted. The colored graph gives you the chance to click on the activity (sleep, creative work, exercise…) to try to find out how these people lived. Maybe that’s all it takes for you to become a genius! Who knows?
6. Selfiecity
Have you ever wondered how people take selfies? What poses and expressions do they make and is there any pattern to it? Selfiecity has – the project investigated the style of selfies in five cities around the world: Bangkok, Berlin, Moscow, New York and São Paulo. You can compare how the inhabitants of each city behave when taking selfies. Who smiles more? Who is more reserved? How old are the selfie-takers? You can find out all this by looking at the graphs on the website.
You can see how much fun data visualization can be, right? With an interactive design, the information is transmitted fluidly and it becomes much more interesting to uncover curiosities about our life and our world!
