Data Visualization: Too Easy To Be Too Slick? 41
jfruh writes "Data visualization tools are finally putting a longtime dream within reach: offering the ability to make beautiful, slick-looking charts out of datasets almost automatically. But are our psyches ready for the shift? Data scientist Pete Warden quickly put together a visualization of Facebook name geography. Though he didn't consider it to be a scientific sample that could drive major decisions, he quickly found that it drove discussion at the New York Times and on white supremacist websites. 'There is an element of "wow, it's so professionally presented that it must be true,"' said Jim Bell, chief marketing officer for Jaspersoft."
The map (Score:5, Informative)
Speak For Yourself (Score:4, Informative)
If your psyche can't properly handle a "slick" looking chart or info-graphic then you have some serious issues that you need to deal with right away. Perhaps you should get of Slashdot for awhile.
Frankly, I was wondering what the point of this "article" was. But, now I realize that it is an advertisement for Jaspersoft.