ARTS2090 Publics & Publishing

Visualisation: Comparing the impact of

the Haiti earthquake (2010) & Japan

earthquake (2011) 

Winnie Ho, Kirsten Low, Molly McAleer, Carmarlena Murdaca

A preliminary visualisation created with 'ManyEyes'

Our Visualisation:

 

Brief explanation of our visualisation:• A direct comparison of the casualties

between the quakes of Japan and Haiti to give a sense of scale

 • Used Many Eyes to create our preliminary

visualisation • Then merged the pie charts with maps of

Haiti and Japan to make it more interesting

What does our visualisation do to the public?

• Simple to understand and interpret the data •  "The more information, the less attention"

-   Michael Erard • Capturing attention • Allows the public interpret the data

themselves

Limitations:

• Stephen Few: circles aren't always reliable because of inaccuracy

 • Conflicting data from different sources

 • Recent events = data constantly updating

Strengths:

• Simple and straightforward • Clearly communicates the information to a

broad range of people • Aesthetics mentally engage the public • Retains the attention of the public

ReferencesLink to our Many Eyes visualisation: http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/visualizations/comparing-the-toll-of-the-japanese

• "Case Study: What is good visualisation?", Dataviz, accessed 12 May 2011, <http://improving-visualisation.org/case-studies/id=6>

• 'Earthquakes with 50,000 or more deaths', USGS, accessed 6 May 2011, <http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/most_destructive.php>

• Erard, M 2009, ‘A short manifesto on the future of attention’, Observatory, accessed 6 April 2011, <http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=10297>

• Few, S 2010, 'Our Irresistible Fascination with All Things Circular', Visual Business Intelligence Newsletter, <http://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/visual_business_intelligence/our_fascination_with_all_things_circular.pdf>

• The World Factbook, Haiti, CIA, accessed 6 May 2011, <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ha.html>

• The World Factbook, Japan, CIA, accessed 6 May 2011, <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html>

• The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, Wikipedia, accessed 6 May 2011,<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami>

• 2010 Haiti earthquake, Wikipedia, accessed 6 May 2011, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Haiti_earthquake>