Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Let’s not get carried away with things like “data visualization.” We’ve been looking at data for a long time.

I have heard a lot lately about data visualization. This blog post should indicate that I have heard far too much lately about data visualization.

The folly hit me recently as we were discussing a timeline or graphic to show a set of events in a project. The graphic would be simple. It would show a line with dates. Here and there would be major events on the line. Wow! Upper managers would love this. They love to “see” something instead of reading the words. I didn’t mention it, but when we read we are seeing data and that is data visualization, too.

The timeline graphic would be … yes, data visualization. And that brings us to the calendar. It is data visualization. We put data on a piece of paper that has a grid showing dates. We can stand back and look at the visual. Amazing, right?

Some research shows that some researchers believe than humans have used calendars to visualize data for about 4,000 years. Pretty good data visualization, huh?

I always think of my mother-in-law. Each year, she would buy a calendar that showed all twelve months on one long piece of paper laminated in plastic. She would write the birthdays of several dozen family members and friends on this year’s calendar. That was an annual ritual she never missed. Data visualization at its finest.

Silly notion? Maybe. Nevertheless, let’s not get carried away with this notion that we today have created data visualization and utilize it more than anyone in history. We have been putting information on something that we can see with our eyes for a long time. It works. That is why we still do it.