Courses/Computer Science/CPSC 203/CPSC 203 2007Summer L60/CPSC 203 2007Summer L60 Labs/Lab 3

Mini-Tutorial: Visual Display of Information
Two Critical Principles in the Visual Display of Information are:
 * Statistical Accuracy (the numbers are the "right" numbers, correctly calculated given the data population/sample you are using).
 * Cognitive Effect (the pattern in the data is made clear as possible to the viewer).

Design Issues in the Visual Display of Information (or the World According to Tufte)
 * 1) Maximize Data Ink -- Ink that directly conveys information about data points
 * 2) Minimize Chart Junk -- All additional glyphs, bells, whistles, 3D effects that do not directly convey data information.
 * 3) Use Small Multiples to deal with Complexity -- Create a basis for comparison in large or complex data sets by creating simple diagrams with common aces or common design elements.
 * 4) Data Density -- Very large data sets or very complex data sets require us to find visual techniques that maintain the content of the data, but allow us to get a "gestalt" view that can not be obtained from reading a massive data table.
 * 5) Multiple Use -- If possible put visual elements to multiple uses. Data points, could also be numbers reflecting data values. Data glyphs could reflect relationships between the data attributes in frame, and other data attributes.
 * 6) Aesthetics -- The same principles that make various art constructs effective apply also to visualization of data. Example -- use of the "Golden Rectangle" for 2 D displays. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rectangle

Resources
The Visual Display of Quantitiative Information. 1983. By Edward R. Tufte

The Elements of Graphing Data. 1985. By William S. Cleveland.