The data I decided to visualize is a dataset on the male and female first names for each year from 2001 to 2010 based on births registered in New Zealand. For my graph, I chose a line graph since it is easier to understand what the graph is representing. I was first considering a bar graph but I noticed that with so many different names, each bar may end up very skinny so believe a line graph is better in this case. I am satisfied with the line graph as I was able to make count as y-axis and year as x-axis. When looking for the appropriate style, I struggled to find the right graph that incorporated both count and time then found the line graph at the bottom.
I made a few changes to the graph. The first thing I did was add colors to all the lines to be able to distinguish them. Since there are so many, I used the RGB number thing and wrote random numbers of all the lines. Then I added a legend or label of color and their names on the right of the graph. Lastly, make sure each line in the graph is labeled so we can identify which lines are who’s.
After looking at the TED talk by Hans Rosling it was clear how important visualization of data is beneficial for DH study. Hans showed graphs such as the world’s respiration number with life expectancy and the world’s income distribution. In both of the examples, he used the visualization of the data set to prove his point about the DH topic. He used the graph to explain his argument and the cool animations where the graph plots move with the time allowed him to express the gradual change while explaining the purpose behind it. Therefore, visualization is a key feature to use in DH projects!
3 thoughts on “LAB WEEK 6: DATA VISUALIZATION”
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The post is great as well as the graph itself. The changes you made to the graph such as incorporating distinct colors for each name and other labels made it easy to understand the lines. I was also thinking about doing a line graph but, personally, I was not too fond of the chaotic visuals of numerous lines crossing each other, making it hard to track and understand the data. Overall, the post was great and had everything that was asked for and it was visually appealing, especially with the vibrant and varied colors you used on your graph.
I totally agree with Hans Rosling’s points too! I feel that data viz is such a topic that feels intimidating to approach but I think that its totally worth the work put into as the results we can visualize really help with understanding more statistical points.I would love to see how it comes up in future projects that our class works on.
Wow this is an excellent graph! I love how the different colors represent the different names and I love the different peaks of different name. It makes it very clear which names are most popular. I liked that you made a legend for the names as well. Very well done, great job!