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A periodic table of visualization methods (2007)

visual-literacy.org

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Re: A periodic table of visualization methods (2007)

#31

Post by ngc7293 »

FeelingGood wrote: post #30
albert_e wrote: post #4

Also a good meta example of picking a poor visualization method for the given data? This makes me curious -- Has there been any good application of "periodic table" as a visualization method for anything other than chemical elements? If we are thinking of a grid where "rows" and "columns" imply some common properties .. then I am sure there are a few examples of matrix / quadrant/ grid formats that help convey that.…

> Has there been any good application of "periodic table" as a visualization method for anything other than chemical elements? There is The Azure Periodic Table: https://www.azureperiodictable.com/

The key here is they didn't try to match the elements table's shape.

Re: A periodic table of visualization methods (2007)

#32

Post by 0thgen »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #26
0thgen wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if a "tree" would be a better visualization methods for visualization methods

maybe some sort of directed graph. for example one thing I might want to have to describe visualization methods would be what graphical elements would be important to it. In the case of the periodic table an important graphical element would be color (the color used carries date), an unimportant one would be typography. this is obviously just thinking aloud here. perhaps also some visualization methods would benefit…

well I think there's a natural hierarchy that emerges from the examples given in the periodic table link.

Spatial: line graphs, scatterplots, and even barplots and pie charts(1-dimensional space). Id throw spectogram and anything with time in there as well.

Geographic: maps (this could be a subset of spatial)

Graphical: graphs, mind-maps, flow charts, all the other graphs-like charts from the examples

Visual Metaphors: those weird examples of they give of steps and a bridge, a slide, etc

Those 4 categories alone capture all the examples from the webpage, and there are plenty of subcategories within them.

So to me a hierarchy / tree seems like a good choice, which is essentially a directed graph (like you suggested)

Re: A periodic table of visualization methods (2007)

#33

Post by paulddraper »

albert_e wrote: post #4

Also a good meta example of picking a poor visualization method for the given data? This makes me curious -- Has there been any good application of "periodic table" as a visualization method for anything other than chemical elements? If we are thinking of a grid where "rows" and "columns" imply some common properties .. then I am sure there are a few examples of matrix / quadrant/ grid formats that help convey that.…

There are plenty of things that make sense in a grid.

(E.g. a lawful/chaotic good/evil grid.)

But the periodic table itself is based on chemical/physical properties of elements, so of course nothing else will ever fit that shape precisely.

Re: A periodic table of visualization methods (2007)

#35

Post by bane »

I ironically love this and think it's (un)intentially hilarious. It's basically everything people who think very seriously about infoviz warn about, crammed into a single terrible visualization on the subject of visualization. It's such an erudite accumulation of inexpert concepts it almost has to have been put together (paradoxically) by an expert in the field.

I looked it up, and indeed it was put together by a couple serious folks [1]. Even extensively cites Tufte.

I reminds me of the movie "Bad CGI Gator" from last year.

This is so wonderfully hard to parse as either parody or serious. Brilliant.

1 - https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1712936.1712954

Re: A periodic table of visualization methods (2007)

#36

Post by crispyambulance »

albert_e wrote: post #4

Also a good meta example of picking a poor visualization method for the given data? This makes me curious -- Has there been any good application of "periodic table" as a visualization method for anything other than chemical elements? If we are thinking of a grid where "rows" and "columns" imply some common properties .. then I am sure there are a few examples of matrix / quadrant/ grid formats that help convey that.…

I think it's an amusing display of a bunch of different visualization methods.

It's fun to browse. No need to take it more seriously than it takes itself.

From their white paper conclusion:

--- Our efforts in structuring the vast domain of visualization methods cannot be seen as a close adaptation of the periodic table of chemical elements. It is rather a functional, metaphoric homage to it. The choice of methods included as well as the order criteria cannot be considered exhaustive. Nevertheless, it does provide an overview over more than hundred useful visualization methods of great variety and by organizing them assists researchers and practitioners alike in choosing adequate visualization methods for their needs. On demand the user is provided with further useful information through signs. We encourage the reader to playfully explore the different properties of the visualization methods presented. So he may consider more than one method for his next visualization requirement and to use them in a combined, complementary manner. This may not turn lead into gold, but turn complex issues into accessible explanations. ---

I do accept that a not insignificant segment of HN users would much prefer a man-page-like display, all-text, no graphics, no css, no javascript-- even for a page about visualizations!

"Concept" and "Information" should have more distinguishable colors though.

Re: A periodic table of visualization methods (2007)

#37

Post by dahart »

bane wrote: post #35

I ironically love this and think it's (un)intentially hilarious. It's basically everything people who think very seriously about infoviz warn about, crammed into a single terrible visualization on the subject of visualization. It's such an erudite accumulation of inexpert concepts it almost has to have been put together (paradoxically) by an expert in the field. I looked it up, and indeed it was put together by a cou…

Wait, is it parody? I would agree if it was, but I assumed it was serious, and kinda bad. Their “knowledge maps” page on the site looks similar - the examples are ugly & awful. https://www.visual-literacy.org/maps/ This all looks like it’s intended to be serious, considered good by the authors, especially considering the associated academic publication, and not some kind of intentionally funny commentary on bad visualizations. If that’s the case, it doesn’t seem particularly brilliant.

Aside from the nonsensical analogy to the periodic table (which they admit in the paper), the thing that bugs me about it is that it’s nowhere near complete, it does not cover all basic elements of visualization (also which they are aware of and discuss in the paper), so just completely misses the fundamental idea. It amounts to a hundred random examples of info-viz, most of which look mediocre to bad.

Re: A periodic table of visualization methods (2007)

#39

Post by fjkdlsjflkds »

mapreduce wrote: post #16

I don't know if I am missing something obvious. What is the periodicity in these visualization methods? Like I am looking at the 2nd column: cartesian coordinates, line chart, area chart, scatterplot, spectogram. What periodic property is being repeated among them?

My favorite part is that there is no such thing as a "spectogram" (I assume they mean a "spectrogram").

The whole thing is hilariously bad :) love it.

Re: A periodic table of visualization methods (2007)

#40

Post by bookofjoe »

albert_e wrote: post #4

Also a good meta example of picking a poor visualization method for the given data? This makes me curious -- Has there been any good application of "periodic table" as a visualization method for anything other than chemical elements? If we are thinking of a grid where "rows" and "columns" imply some common properties .. then I am sure there are a few examples of matrix / quadrant/ grid formats that help convey that.…

>PERIODIC TABLES OF ALMOST EVERYTHING EXCEPT ELEMENTS

https://www.pinterest.com/brianhousand/periodic-tables-of-al...

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