Ducky's CPSC 533C Assignment #1

Bad Infovis

This image shows what the dominant language for given regions in Europe and environs, with a particular focus on Indo-European languages. The graph map is completely undated, leading one to presume that perhaps it reflects the current linguistic state. However, Tocharian is also shown, which went extinct a very long time ago (around 900 CE).

The following image is a bad visualization for several reasons.

• The colors are indistinguishable. (This is not a problem with the scanning technology; they are indistinguishable in the original.) Poland could be either Slavic, Celtic, or Tocharian. Sweden might be Iranian.
• The non-Indo-European languages are shaded instead of colored, in a shade that is difficult to distinguish from the background grey.
• The Basque cross-hatching is too coarse for the size of the region thus shaded and is surrounded by a relatively dark color. The Basque area thus just looks "dirty", if one even notices it.
• There are two separate legends; one might see one legend and not immediately think to look for a second legend.

COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL -- NOT FOR REPUBLICATION

Image from Refrew, C. (1989). The Origins of Indo-European Languages, in Wang, W., The Emergence of Language Development and Evolution, W. H. Freeman and Company (1991), 46-58.

Good Infovis: US AIDS mortality animation

The animation below (see link next to the image) shows the progression of AIDS. It shows the number of mainland US deaths due to AIDS as a function of location and time. (Because of confidendiality issues, some areas with fewer than three deaths can be undercounted; for more see aggregation policy.)

This visualization uses color and time well. Large hue changes, which interfere with people's ability to interpret intensity changes, are absent. The time axis in the visualization maps very directly to the time axis of the data. The effect gives a rather eye-opening picture of AIDS' spread.

Play animation