The power of information visualisation

Why strive to understand the data better than we already do?

During the past two decades, we have seen tremendous progress in technologies that allow us to collect, store, retrieve data, but sadly, we have ignored the primary tool that makes information meaningful and comprehensive: the human mind. While concentrating on the tools and libraries, we have forgotten the human skills that are required to make sense of the data.

Why concern oneself to analyse data?

Good data analysis allows us :

1. to better manage the system
2. to make the better prediction under particular conditions in the future
3. to create opportunities and prevent problem

Computers cannot make sense of data, only human can. Only people who have developed the necessary data skill analysis skills can make sense of the data. Computer helps us best when we use them to do more efficiently and accurately do what we already know how to do. The decision makers rely on the results that was pre-processed by the people, mostly by people who have never been trained in the fundamental skills of data analysis. These skills are rare in the workplace today, not because the problem is too complex, but because most people never really try to understand the data at all.

How can we better understand the data?

More than 90% of data analyses needed by the most organisation can be performed by basic analysis skills which is easily mastered an understanding of statistics. One of the techniques that we can use to understand the data is a visual representation of quantitative information- to explore patters meaning within the numbers. Mastering these visual analysis techniques allows us to better understand the data and make sense of it.

For example: to illustrate the difference between numbers and graphs for understanding information. Let’s look at the calorie content of the pizza from the “Cheesy!” restaurant in the form of tables.

Nutritional composition of pizza per serving.

Now let’s look at the calorie content of the pizza in a visual form.

Calorie content of pizza in a bar graph.

The visual representation allows us to understand the relationship between different variables, the picture makes these relationship visible.

Comparison of calorie and fat content of different pizzas

Well designed pictures or visualisation makes the stories behind data visible and bring to life. It provides a powerful means to net the prize fish from the vast pool of data.
When we represent quantitative information in visual form, our ability to think about it is dramatically enhanced. visual representation not only make the patterns, trends, and exceptions in number visible, they also help us to understand, appreciate, and make use of this connection to make a better decision.

Reference - Few, Stephen (2009). Now you see it — Simple visualisation techniques for Qualitative Analysis. Jonathan G. Koomey.