#What Is Data Visualization?

[tableauecoursetips]

What Is Data Visualization and Why Does It Matter in Today’s Digital World?

In today’s fast-moving digital landscape, data is everywhere—from your phone's health tracker to complex business reports. But raw numbers can be overwhelming. That’s where data visualization comes in. It transforms complicated data into visuals like charts and graphs, making it easier for people to understand patterns, spot trends, and make smart decisions.

Whether you’re a marketing analyst, a teacher, or just someone trying to make sense of survey results, tableau training helps you tell stories with data. Instead of rows of numbers in a spreadsheet, you get a clear, visual picture of what the data means.

Let’s explore what data visualization is, why it’s important, and how you can use it effectively—no matter your background.

What Is Data Visualization?

At its core, data visualization is the art and science of turning data into visual content. This could be a simple bar chart comparing monthly sales or an interactive dashboard showing real-time web traffic across the globe. It’s a way to represent information so it can be understood quickly, even by people who aren’t data experts.

Instead of making your audience dig through data tables, visualization lets you communicate the main insights right away. It helps translate complicated numbers into simple visuals that guide better decision-making.

Why Data Visualization Is So Important

As the volume of digital data continues to explode, the ability to interpret it quickly is becoming a competitive advantage. Here’s why visualization matters:

It simplifies complex information, making it easier to digest. Imagine looking at a table with 1,000 rows versus a graph that shows you the same insights in a few seconds. The difference is huge.

Visualization also reveals hidden trends or patterns you might not catch with a spreadsheet alone. For example, a line graph could instantly show you a drop in sales during specific months—something less obvious in raw data.

Lastly, it helps teams and organizations make faster, more informed decisions. Whether you’re presenting to executives or stakeholders, clear visuals reduce confusion and speed up the decision-making process.

The Most Common Types of Data Visualizations

Different types of charts serve different purposes. Choosing the right one depends on what kind of data you’re working with and what you want to show.

Bar Charts are perfect for comparing quantities across categories. For instance, you can use a bar chart to compare revenue across departments.

Line Graphs show trends over time, such as monthly traffic to a website or yearly temperature changes.

Pie Charts are useful when you want to show parts of a whole—like market share or survey responses.

Heat Maps highlight data intensity using color. They’re often used to track website user activity or performance metrics.

Scatter Plots show relationships between two variables, helping to identify correlations or outliers.

Dashboards combine several charts and metrics into one screen, offering a complete view of key performance indicators (KPIs).

Top Tools for Creating Data Visualizations

There’s no shortage of tools for building visualizations, ranging from beginner-friendly to highly customizable. Some of the most widely used platforms include:

Tableau – A popular tool for interactive dashboards, ideal for professionals who want detailed, dynamic visuals without needing to code.

Microsoft Power BI – Best for users already working with the Microsoft ecosystem. It integrates easily with Excel and Azure.

Google Looker Studio (formerly Data Studio) – Free and easy to use, great for creating sharable reports and connecting Google-based data sources.

Microsoft Excel – While basic, it’s still a powerful tool for creating quick charts, especially for smaller datasets.

D3.js – A JavaScript library for developers who want complete control over custom, interactive visuals on the web.

How Different Industries Use Data Visualization

Visualization isn’t just for analysts or tech experts. It’s used in many industries to support smarter decisions and clearer communication.

In business, visual reports help track performance, monitor customer behavior, and guide marketing strategies. Dashboards can provide executives with real-time data to adjust operations on the fly.

In healthcare, patient data is visualized to detect trends in treatments, monitor public health patterns, or even track the spread of diseases.

Educators use visuals to highlight student progress, identify gaps in learning, and communicate results with parents or administrators.

In government, data visualization is used to present public information—like unemployment rates or budget reports—making data accessible to all citizens.

Best Practices for Designing Effective Visualizations

Creating good visuals takes more than just choosing a chart type. You need to think critically about how your audience will interpret the data. Here are some tips:

Start by knowing your audience. Are they familiar with the data? What decisions do they need to make based on your chart?

Choose the visualization that best fits your message. For example, use line graphs for time trends, but opt for bar charts to compare items.

Keep your design clean and uncluttered. A busy chart can confuse rather than clarify.

Use color strategically—not just for decoration. Highlight key data points, but ensure the chart is still readable in grayscale.

Always provide context. Label your axes, include a title, and use legends if needed. Don’t assume your audience will figure it out on their own.

Quick Checklist for Effective Visuals

Keep charts simple and focused

Label all key elements (axes, titles, legends)

Use colors and shapes to guide attention, not distract

Avoid 3D effects or unnecessary embellishments

Make sure your charts are mobile-friendly if shared online

Conclusion

In a world overflowing with information, the ability to visualize data is more than a skill—it’s a necessity. Whether you're managing a team, analyzing customer behavior, or simply trying to make sense of numbers, clear and thoughtful visualizations make your insights stronger and your message more powerful.

The tools are accessible, the techniques are learnable, and the benefits are undeniable. By mastering the basics of data visualization, you’re not just reading the data—you’re telling its story. And in today's data-driven world, that's a story worth sharing.

FAQ

Do I need to be a data expert to use data visualization tools? No. Tools like Tableau, Power BI, and Google Looker Studio are built to be user-friendly, especially for beginners. Most offer drag-and-drop features and templates to get started.

What’s the best type of chart for comparing data over time? A line graph is usually your best choice for showing how something changes over time, such as sales, traffic, or temperatures.

Can I use visualization for personal projects? Absolutely. From budgeting to tracking fitness goals, data visualization can make personal data more insightful and actionable.

[front-facing-pokemon]

could i get a data sora from kingdom hearts recoded. please

[novella-november]

Anyone have any tools for visualizing a population or group of objects with the ability to color code groups to keep track of different traits or an I just gonna have to do it all in MS Paint with some colored dots by hand 🤣

Trying to figure out a good size for my main medieval (?) city fantasy population because I still haven't quite figured out the mileage size of the plot of land but i do need a general number of population for a plot point early on.

Obviously I can just figure it out in the second draft but i love world building and the fact I haven't found a general number yet is bugging me lol.

[genshin-stats]

On Natlan Characters' Skin Colors

I sampled the skin colors of all of the characters in Genshin Impact with unique models, as well as the upcoming Natlan characters. I didn't include NPCs as there are over 3,000, guaranteeing neutral lighting is difficult, and this blog is a side project. I tried to get the lightest part of the face from the character cards where I could, but there were some cases where I had to find another spot (for instance, Raiden Shogun's face has a purple tint due to her artwork featuring her pulling out a glowing Musou no Hitotachi, but her thighs do not have such a tint). Then, I looked up a list of various foundation brands (listed in the tags), with a focus on getting a wide range of shades. This let me sample the colors of foundation offered (as a stand in for real life human skin tones).

I then took the hex code samples online and calculated the relative luminance of that particular color. Luminance is a measure of reflectivity or brightness of a color. It's a weighted average of the red, green, and blue components of a color. True White (#FFFFFF) has a luminance of 1.00 and True Black (#000000) has a luminance of 0.00. With the luminance of all skin colors calculated, I then graphed it based on luminance. The graph is shown below.

These figures have the top 25% of the sample represented by the line on the top, the middle 50% represented by the box, and the bottom 25% represented by the line underneath. For example, with Liyue's sample size of 20, we would see that the top 5 luminant skin colors range from roughly 0.96 to roughly 0.91 or 0.92. Then, the middle 10 luminance values range from 0.91 to 0.86. The lower 5 luminance values range from 0.86 to about 0.47.

Looking at these graphs, I can only draw one conclusion, especially with the small sample size of Natlan characters right now. They are darker than many of the other nations' characters. They still look very light, however. That may be due, in part or in whole, to the fact that the Natlan characters really start to show up in the same range as the lightest foundation shades I examined (and not for lack of searching!).

There are two issues at play here, ones that became even more noticeable with the release/marketing of Sumeru and Natlan characters.

The skin colors are over-all very light. The lightest foundation shade I found has a luminance of 0.86, while that the 25th percentile for the luminance of Genshin Impact characters.

Hoyoverse has a very strong bias towards making their characters lighter skinned.

Issue 2 is somewhat visible in the graphs shown above, but it's better illustrated in this one below.

[By "% Lighter" on the y-axis, that is the percent of the sampled population that has a greater luminance than the position on the x-axis. For instance, going up from 0.20 luminance on the x-axis, we see that 70% of foundation shades sampled were lighter than that.]

For the makeup, you see that it decreases fairly steadily, showing a reasonable distribution throughout. Genshin Characters, on the other hand, show a steep drop around 0.85 luminance to 0.95. That indicates that the majority of the over 90 characters used for this study are around there. Again, 0.85 was the very highest end for the foundations.

I have a few other graphs I made while making the other ones that can help illustrate just how much lighter Hoyoverse's characters in Genshin Impact are in comparison to a real human range.

Focus is on Natlan right now, which is fully understandable, but the issue is much deeper than just them. It's all the characters from all of the nations. The only solution is to bring all of them to a more human range, and add more variety.

[darkwood-sleddog]

you know i think it's really funny (derogatory) that tumblr seemingly has the ability to create popups for ad-free, crabs, anything that will get them money, but when it comes to using popups to guide new users around the website layout they're just like "uww what can we POSSIBLY do?? all these new people only know twitter and they couldn't possibly read a popup explaining how to use the site!! let's just change everything visually appealing about tumblr to cater to our inability to make popups for helpful reasons uwu!!".

like you know what i want? If you're testing a change on me I want a pop up that says so. I don't want to have to rely on the @changes blog to see that. If i'm testing a change I should be given a feedback form that is specifically about that change. I want the results of the feedback forms for changes to be publicly viewable to the userbase. you could learn so much about how this website actually functions for users through that, but no. we can only make popups when it fiscally benefits us! we can't use polls to get a sense of what the userbase is feeling! we can't publicize what % of feedback about a change was positive or negative. we couldn't...possibly...

[otaku553]

can I ask what ur summer research was about?!!! :0 (u absolutely don't have to answer if ur not comfortable, I'm just a giant nerd and loves to hear about research dhdnfjdmdjfng)

Of course!!! I’d be glad to talk about it!!

In short, my research over the summer was putting mice in mazes and looking at how well they remember mazes, how quickly they learn the maze, and how learning one maze can help them learn other mazes faster. More detailed under the read more!

Previous maze studies with mice have shown that mice can actually learn very quickly when they’re learning behaviors that are in line with their own evolutionary advantages rather than arbitrary associations. It’s the difference between telling a mouse “go around these tunnels and try to find water to survive” vs telling it “do these very specific and completely useless 5 things and then you’ll get water”. Maze navigation for mice is already a natural complex behavior: mice are burrowing rodents and already have the predisposition for running around tunnels. We set up a maze and cameras and infrared lights around it to record it doing its thing, so that we can look at its natural behaviors with no human interference.

The unique thing about this project is less the behavior and rapid learning of the mouse and more the maze that we use for the study, called the Manhattan Maze. I think my mentor created it but I’m not too certain? But the basic concept of it, as shown in the figure above, is that there are two boxes of parallel tunnels and one layer of acrylic in the middle. Through holes in the acrylic, the mouse can climb between the two layers and make a “turn”. Essentially, this maze is the most reconfigurable setup for studying mouse behavior in mazes possible, because the middle layer of acrylic, which we call a mask, can be changed 2^(n^2) ways (n being the number of channels in a layer) to make completely different mazes. For the figure above, a 4x4 Manhattan maze, we have 2^16 possible different configurations, but we were actually running it on an 11x11 maze, so there were 2^121 different possible configurations! This way, we can look at the mouse in tons of different mazes without actually having to make a new maze altogether and transfer the mouse every time.

And they learn extremely fast! The mazes we used were pretty much linear paths with small dead ends that weren’t far off from the main path, and required 9 turning decisions to get from starting point to end point. There were 3 of these different masks, and after training for one day on one of them, the next day, almost all mice that completed the training managed to learn completely new 9-decision masks in 3 hours or less!

[detectivehole]

i absolutely love playing with the data visualizations on citizen dj and creating what is to other people apparently auditory sensory hell but to me is the correct amount of noise anything should make. please try it

[kiragecko]

@shadow-dracat

#reblog#text#gender#linguistics#neopronouns#I'm not sure this is screen reader safe#but I'm also not sure it is unsafe#no plain text

-

Does anyone have a link to where I can read about the effects of formatting on screen readers? Because I've been wondering for a bit about people transcribing everything that isn't plain text from posts.

Figuring out how to make long posts readable is a struggle. Formatting helps with focus issues. (Mine, at least.) But I want to find something better if indenting 3/4 of my text messes with screen reading software.

[midnightactual]

to talk about AI in art more specifically, I think in so far as AI has any legitimate use in art, it's exclusively as an artistic aid. if you generate an AI image of a character, then draw on top of it using it as a loose reference (I'm not talking about tracing here), that's not really any different than using any other photo reference or inspiration. if you feed all of a character's dialogue to an AI, then have it crosscheck versus dialogue you wrote for them and make adjustments to your writing (I'm not talking about copying and pasting here), that's not really any different than having someone beta-read for voice or doing it manually yourself. it can be an effective tool for doing very specific and technical things faster and thus developing a better personal artistic intuition for them. it's acceptable as training wheels, like spellcheck but much more sophisticated

what is broadly unacceptable is to just let AI generate something and release it into the wild as-is or edited. AI making your life easier or giving you more confidence in making your art is fine. using AI to substitute for and try and shortcut the artistic process is not

[agp]

hey if youre on turtle island or still tuesday and feel like trying a quick silly browser game you should check out tradle. (i think it updates at midnight based on time zones?) todays is real fun i prommy.

you get five guesses to figure out a country from its export data, and after each guess they tell you how far away you are and what direction the county youre looking for is. i know it sounds like a ridiculous challenge but this one has a bunch of easy hints and giveaways that are accessible to your average westerner

if its wednesday by now or you want to see the data presented differently check out this silly economy under the cut (bolded 'spoilers' ig)

total export value: 371b (usd)

gold: 86.7b (23%}

packaged meds: 48.5b (13%)

vaccines, blood, cultures, etc: 40.3b (11%)

base metal watches: 15.2b (4%)

nitrogen heterocyclic compounds: 14.2b (4%)

jewlery: 9.35b (2.5%)

precious metal watches: 8.97b (2.5%)

orthopedic appliances: 7.02b (2%)

hormones: 3.38b

coffee: 3.36b

electricity: 3.19b

medical instruments: 3.09b

machinery w indv functions: 3.04b

platinum: 2.54b

chemical analysis instruments: 2.27b

nucleic acids: 2.17b

valves: 2.17b

silver: 2.01b

electric motors: 1.78b

scented mixtures: 1.72b

sulfonamides: 1.71b

diamonds: 1.64b

planes, helicopters, and spacecraft: 1.63b

beauty products: 1.58b

other heating machinery: 1.43b

flavored water: 1.43b

gas turbines: 1.38b

low voltage protection eq: 1.34b

gas and liquid flow measuring inst: 1.3b

carboxyamide compounds: 1.26b

other measuring instruments: 1.24b

air pumps: 1.16b

motor vehicles, parts, and acc: 1.14b

petroleum gas: 1.12b

electrical transformers: 1.11b

aluminum plating: 1.07b

other plastic products: 1.01b

metal working machine parts: 988m

vitamins: 965m

polyamides: 963m

washing and bottling machines: 925m

chocolate: 887m

oxygen amino compounds: 885m

integrated circuits: 884m

iron fasteners: 881m

paintings: 873m

transmissions: 855m

special pharmaceuticals: 837m

insulated wire: 828m

electrical power accessories: 826m

plastic lids: 818m

cheese: 800m

antibiotics: 797m

liquid pumps: 797m

cars: 789m

ink: 752m

non mechanical removal machinery: 737m

trunks and cases: 734m

centrifuges: 730m

interchangeable tool parts: 728m

high voltage protection eq: 705m

hand saws: 693m

other edible preparations: 680m

electric heaters: 679m

electrical control boards: 672m

polyacetals: 664m

plastic pipes: 636m

electric soldering equipment: 616m

precious metal compounds: 608m

industrial fatty acids, oils, and alcohols: 608m

hot rolled iron bars: 590m

self propelled rail transport: 582m

refined petroleum: 577m

hydrazine or hydroxylamine derivatives: 565m

precious stones: 563m

rubber working machinery: 561m

unpackaged meds: 557m

other iron products: 553m

precious metal scraps 550m

computers: 545m

surveying equipment: 523m

other plastic sheetings: 519m

metal finishing machines: 516m

scrap copper: 514m

semiconductor devices: 511m

raw plastic sheeting: 494m

documents or title and stamps: 490m

rolled tobacco: 487m

malt extract: 469m

other electrical machinery: 467m

other paper machinery: 450m

oxygen heterocyclic compounds: 441m

non knit mens suits: 441m

synthetic coloring matter: 436m

locomotive parts: 432m

non knit womens suits: 428m

iron structures: 424m

leather footwear: 421m

industrial printers: 415m

lifting machinery: 415m

scrap iron: 412m

therapeutic appliances: 410m

office machine parts: 410m

other clocks and watches: 405m

metal molds: 403m

other furniture: 403m

glaziers putty: 377m

liquid dispersing machines: 376m

knitting machine accessories: 370m

other small iron pipes: 369m

broadcasting equipment: 367m

aircraft parts: 363m

industrial food prep machinery: 362m

glues: 357m

pesticides: 349m

oscilloscopes: 344m

raw aluminum: 344m

knit sweaters: 339m

optical fibers and bundles: 334m

excavation machinery: 332m

non iron/steel slag ash and residue: 319m

carboxylic acids: 315m

xray equipment: 315m

electric motor parts: 315m

watch straps: 313m

tanks and armoured vehicles: 310m

forging machines: 309m

cleaning products: 306m

metalworking transfer machines: 298m

animal food: 294m

combustion engines: 282m

engine parts: 271m

electric generating sets: 254m

scrap aluminum: 249m

laboratory reagents: 249m

perfumes: 244m

other rubber products: 241m

photo lab equipment: 240m

wheat: 236m

lubricating products: 234m

printed circuit boards: 233m

aluminum bars: 230m

explosive ammunition: 230m

brooms: 224m

lcds: 223m

refrigerators: 223m

motorcycles and cycles: 221m

large construction vehicles: 221m

coal briquettes: 221m

corn: 220m

aluminum cans: 219m

textile footwear: 217m

thermostats: 207m

coffee and tea extracts: 206m

other aluminum products: 204m

ball bearings: 203m

knives: 199m

machines for additive mnf: 195m

raw iron bars: 187m

delivery trucks: 185m

milling stones: 176m

aluminum foil: 170m

collectors items: 169m

soybean oil: 169m

wood fiberboard: 166m

other stainless steel bars: 164m

sculptures: 160m

cutting blades: 159m

baked goods: 150m

navigation equipment: 146m

hydrometers: 137m

watch cases and parts: 134m

laboratory ceramic wear: 134m

wood carpentry: 124m

mirrors and lenses: 117m

[mortalityplays]

talking about impenetrable accents/dialect just reminded me. when I was in Milan a couple of years back I was staying in this little rathole hotel and I had the biggest fucking migraine, so I was like non c'è problema I'll just go buy painkillers. of course every pharmacy on the map in a three block radius was closed, so my stupid ass just starts wandering around trying to figure out on the fly if you can get OTC from supermarkets in italy.

I walk into this little everything store (to my foreign eyes the kind of place that back home could sell you a bunch of carrots, a 6-pack of beer, pantyhose, bleach and a screwdriver set) and I see some household basics in the back but not what I need. with the confidence of a person who is only in the city for 3 days because he got bored and packed a bag and booked the cheapest flight available the week before (<= MENTAL ILLNESS), I was like no worries I know some italian, I can just ask.

I grab a bottle of water, walk up to the counter, and I'm like Ciao, hai il paracetamolo? And the guy is like che, and I'm like paracetamolo. Per la mia testa. And he's like che?

This is where I would have said 'aspirina' except I can't take aspirin for medical reasons, or 'antidolorifico' except I don't know that word and I've got no phone data for google translate and also I'm stupid. So in my fucked up leith-glasgow-italian accent I'm like paaa-ra-cetta-mollll-ooo. He's like ohhh bene, bene, and he calls another guy out of the back and asks him to go get something. Other guy then walks out of the store into the street, and before I can be like hey, che la fuck, he comes back and hands me a huge bundle of herbs.

At this point I'm like okay this entire interaction has been a bust, but these guys have been very nice and patient and they're both smiling happily at me because they've been of service, so I'm like ahh perfetto, grazie, pay them a couple of euros and leave.

EVENTUALLY I find a pharmacy that's open, and my head is fucking killing me, and my phone still isn't connecting, and now I have this small shrubbery poking out of my coat pocket, so I don't even bother looking around the shelves. I just walk straight to the counter and I'm like uhh ciao, scusi. And hearing my nightmare of an accent the guy answers in english and I'm like thank christ, do you please have paracetamol. Not aspirin, I can't take aspirin. And he's like yeah yeah hold on, goes into the back, comes out with what I need.

Only when he comes out he gives me this look, and then he starts laughing. And then he pretends he's not laughing and rings me up and I pay, and as I'm leaving I can see him losing it. But I don't care, my head is going to explode, I'm going back to the rathole to close the blinds and fall comatose for four hours.

When I get back to my hotel room I take off my coat and remember the huge bouquet of herbs in my pocket. They smell amazing, and I'm like I'm pretty sure this is parsley in which case I can just get some tomatoes and mozzarella later and make it work. but since I have no idea what that interaction was, I want to make sure. I bring out my phone to get a visual reference of what parsley leaves look like, and because I was using it for google translate earlier I put 'parsley' in the wrong box like a dope and translate it to italian.

prezzemolo

I wish I could have been the pharmacist in the moment he looked at my tired pissed off anglophone ass, heard me say 'paracetamol' in my fucked up accent, and turned around saw what was in my pocket. I'd have lost my shit too.

[sl33py-g4m3r]

I keep posting (and then deleting the post) about this~~~ can't make up my mind what do I do plz help~~~

I keep posting about this and deleting it cause I genuinely don't know what to do here~~~ idk what I want~~~

whether I want a bigger screen and better battery life, the ability to dock it to the tv if I wanted to (which I rarely do tbh), or portability.

I'm once again making a post about whether I want to use the switch lite or the oled~~~

had an OG switch, got sucked into buying (and paying scalpers for) a coral switch lite after I got mom one, then cause the bigger screen (and bigger screen means bigger text for my visually impaired butt) I splurged on an oled and gave mom my og switch.....

now I've got an oled switch, and a switch lite.....

I want to use the switch lite cause it's more easily portable than the oled is~~ and its 200 grams lighter~~ and has a d pad~~~ and the screen is more crisp cause it's smaller and the same resolution~~~ but the battery is garbage~~ and I paid scalpers for it during covid when the coral one was released~~~

I feel like I should use it just cause I paid scalpers for it.

also if I do this rip animal crossing island I just started

:(

cause I no longer have online nor another account to use the transfer tool that's available....

hope I find a similar one~~~

got a question tho~~~ how many times can I do this if I can't make up my mind? is it an infinite number of times? or is there a limit to jumping back and forth like this?

only got one account~~~

rip rosewood~~~ went ahead and transferred user data~~~ switch lite let's go~~~

[mitcenter]

What is Data Visualization? Applications and Best Practices

In today's data-driven world, information overload is a common challenge. Businesses and individuals alike grapple with massive amounts of data generated every day. Making sense of this data is crucial for informed decision-making, and this is where data visualization plays a pivotal role. In this guide we will understand what is data visualization and its application as well as best practices.

Understanding Data Visualization

Data visualization is the graphical representation of data and information. It transforms complex data sets into comprehensible visuals like charts, graphs, and maps, making trends, patterns, and outliers more apparent. Beyond just presenting data, effective visualization provides insights, aids in understanding relationships, and facilitates the discovery of meaningful conclusions.

Applications of Data Visualization

Business Intelligence: In corporate settings, data visualization is essential for interpreting market trends, customer behavior, and financial performance. Visual analytics dashboards allow executives to monitor key metrics in real-time and make strategic decisions promptly.

Science and Research: Researchers use data visualization to explore scientific phenomena, analyze experimental results, and communicate findings. Visual representations help identify correlations and anomalies that might not be obvious in raw data.

Healthcare: From patient records to epidemiological data, healthcare professionals rely on data visualization to track disease outbreaks, monitor public health trends, and optimize treatment protocols.

Education: Educators use interactive visualizations to explain complex concepts and engage students in learning. Visual aids help students grasp abstract ideas and retain information effectively.

Public Policy: Governments leverage data visualization to analyze socioeconomic trends, visualize demographic data, and formulate evidence-based policies.

Marketing and Sales: Marketers use data visualization to analyze customer demographics, track campaign performance, and optimize marketing strategies. Visual representations of sales data help identify opportunities for growth and improvement.

Best Practices in Data Visualization

Effective data visualization requires a thoughtful approach to design and communication. Here are some best practices:

Know Your Audience: Tailor visualizations to your audience's knowledge and expectations. Consider their familiarity with data interpretation and their specific needs.

Choose the Right Type of Visualization: Select a chart or graph that best represents your data and communicates your message clearly. Common types include bar charts, line graphs, pie charts, and scatter plots.

Simplify and Focus: Avoid clutter and unnecessary elements in your visualizations. Focus on presenting the most relevant information to avoid overwhelming your audience.

Use Color Wisely: Use color to highlight important data points or groupings. Ensure colors are distinguishable for viewers with color vision deficiencies.

Provide Context and Labels: Always include axis labels, titles, and legends to provide context and help viewers understand what they are seeing. Annotations can further clarify key points.

Interactivity: When appropriate, incorporate interactive elements such as filters or tooltips that allow viewers to explore the data further.

Consistency: Maintain consistency in design elements such as fonts, colors, and scales across different visualizations to create a cohesive presentation.

Accessibility: Ensure your visualizations are accessible to all users, including those with visual impairments. Use accessible color palettes and provide alternative text for images where necessary.

The Future of Data Visualization

As technology advances, so too does the potential of data visualization. Machine learning and artificial intelligence are enhancing the capabilities of visualization tools, enabling automated insights and predictive analytics. Augmented and virtual reality are opening up new possibilities for immersive data exploration.

Furthermore, the increasing volume and complexity of data mean that effective visualization will continue to be indispensable across various sectors. As organizations strive to become more data-driven, the ability to interpret and communicate insights visually will remain a critical skill.

Conclusion

Data visualization transforms raw data into actionable insights, empowering decision-makers across industries to make informed choices quickly and effectively. By leveraging the power of visual storytelling, organizations can uncover trends, spot opportunities, and communicate complex ideas with clarity. As technology and best practices evolve, the role of data visualization will only grow, making it an essential tool for navigating the data landscape of the future.

[ohnoitstbskyen]

You’ve probably been asked this before, but do you have a specific view on ai-generated art. I’m doing a school project on artificial intelligence and if it’s okay, i would like to cite you

I mean, you're welcome to cite me if you like. I recently wrote a post under a reblog about AI, and I did a video about it a while back, before the full scale of AI hype had really started rolling over the Internet - I don't 100% agree with all my arguments from that video anymore, but you can cite it if you please.

In short, I think generative AI art

Is art, real art, and it's silly to argue otherwise, the question is what KIND of art it is and what that art DOES in the world. Generally, it is boring and bland art which makes the world a more stressful, unpleasant and miserable place to be.

AI generated art is structurally and inherently limited by its nature. It is by necessity averages generated from data-sets, and so it inherits EVERY bias of its training data and EVERY bias of its training data validators and creators. It naturally tends towards the lowest common denominator in all areas, and it is structurally biased towards reinforcing and reaffirming the status quo of everything it is turned to.

It tends to be all surface, no substance. As in, it carries the superficial aesthetic of very high-quality rendering, but only insofar as it reproduces whatever signifiers of "quality" are most prized in its weighted training data. It cannot understand the structures and principles of what it is creating. Ask it for a horse and it does not know what a "horse" is, all it knows is what parts of it training data are tagged as "horse" and which general data patterns are likely to lead an observer to identify its output also as "horse." People sometimes describe this limitation as "a lack of soul" but it's perhaps more useful to think of it as a lack of comprehension.

Due to this lack of comprehension, AI art cannot communicate anything - or rather, the output tends to attempt to communicate everything, at random, all at once, and it's the visual equivalent of a kind of white noise. It lacks focus.

Human operators of AI generative tools can imbue communicative meaning into the outputs, and whip the models towards some sort of focus, because humans can do that with literally anything they turn their directed attention towards. Human beings can make art with paint spatters and bits of gum stuck under tennis shoes, of course a dedicated human putting tons of time into a process of trial and error can produce something meaningful with genAI tools.

The nature of genAI as a tool of creation is uniquely limited and uniquely constrained, a genAI tool can only ever output some mixture of whatever is in its training data (and what's in its training data is biased by the data that its creators valued enough to include), and it can only ever output that mixture according to the weights and biases of its programming and data set, which is fully within the control of whoever created the tool in the first place. Consequently, genAI is a tool whose full creative capacity is always, always, always going to be owned by corporations, the only entities with the resources and capacity to produce the most powerful models. And those models, thus, will always only create according to corporate interest. An individual human can use a pencil to draw whatever the hell they want, but an individual human can never use Midjourney to create anything except that which Midjourney allows them to create. GenAI art is thus limited not only by its mathematical tendency to bias the lowest common denominator, but also by an ideological bias inherited from whoever holds the leash on its creation. The necessary decision of which data gets included in a training set vs which data gets left out will, always and forever, impose de facto censorship on what a model is capable of expressing, and the power to make that decision is never in the hands of the artist attempting to use the tool.

tl;dr genAI art has a tendency to produce ideologically limited and intrinsically censored outputs, while defaulting to lowest common denominators that reproduce and reinforce status quos.

... on top of which its promulgation is an explicit plot by oligarchic industry to drive millions of people deeper into poverty and collapse wages in order to further concentrate wealth in the hands of the 0.01%. But that's just a bonus reason to dislike it.

[gooenthusiast]

I also feel like they just fed the AI with buzzwords galore… apparently I had a ‚pink pilates roller skating pop‘ and ‚strut electroclash‘ phase…

These (& the daylists) just feel like fast fashion micro trend clock app terms. Like they told the ai to go to town on whatever words were getting clicks on social media & deleted all human-made code used to make Wrapped.

im genuinely convinced that they used ai for the monthly thing on spotify wrapped. what do you mean may was my "coastal grandmother ukulele oldies" phase. august was "pink pilates princess strut pop??" no one would say that september was my "sweater weather permanent wave indie" moment. no way we waited so long for this. multiple people and i also noticed that it took a few seconds longer than usual to load, maybe im just impatient but i wouldnt be surprised if that was ai preparing like all of it as i clicked through. spotify has been using a lot of ai lately with the playlist making, dj, playlist cover designer and now whatever this ai podcast thing is.

[hirelinkup]

CenCore - Data Visualization Intern with Security Clearance Recruitment 2024

CenCore – Data Visualization Intern with Security Clearance Recruitment 2024 About The Company CenCore is a cutting-edge technology company renowned for its innovative solutions in the cybersecurity domain. Established in 2004, the company has consistently pushed the boundaries of cybersecurity with its suite of advanced products and services. Company’s expertise lies in providing tailored…