Lecture 11
Cornell University
INFO 3312/5312 - Spring 2025
February 27, 2025
Source: Adam Bonica via Bluesky
A story is a set of observations, facts, or events, true or invented, that are presented in a specific order such that they create an emotional reaction in the audience.
Data communication uses data to tell a story
Sequential plots: Motivation, then resolution
A single plot: Resolution, and hidden in it motivation
When you’re trying to show too much data at once you may end up not showing anything.
Never assume your audience can rapidly process complex visual displays
Don’t add variables to your plot that are tangential to your story
Don’t jump straight to a highly complex figure; first show an easily digestible subset (e.g., show one facet first)
Aim for memorable, but clear
Be consistent but don’t be repetitive.
Use consistent features throughout plots (e.g., same color represents same level on all plots)
Aim to use a different type of visualization for each distinct analysis
http://www.storytellingwithdata.com/2012/09/some-finer-points-of-data-visualization.html
# A tibble: 3,420 × 5
type name abbrev date pct_change
<chr> <chr> <chr> <date> <dbl>
1 country United States US 2020-04-01 -1.00
2 country United States US 2020-04-02 -1.00
3 country United States US 2020-04-03 -1.00
4 country United States US 2020-04-04 -1.00
5 country United States US 2020-04-05 -1.00
6 country United States US 2020-04-06 -1
7 country United States US 2020-04-07 -1.00
8 country United States US 2020-04-08 -1.00
9 country United States US 2020-04-09 -1
10 country United States US 2020-04-10 -1.00
# ℹ 3,410 more rows
Source: Flowing Data
ae-10
Instructions