data visualization, refining information for a presentation

Data Visualization Janne Pyykkö / 29-Sep-2011Refining information for a presentation

A Consultant (C) and Junior Consultant (J) are discussing

J: Hey, do you have a minute or two?

C: Sure, what's up?

J: I gave yesterday a 30-minute seminar presentation, for which I had made a couple of slides. Some of the slides were criticized for poor data visualization.

C: Ah, show me one example?

J: This is one of them.

C: Hmm, who was the audience?

J: The seminar was targeted to public sector decision-makers and dealt with e-services for citizens.

C: What did you want to achieve with the presentation?

J: I wanted to compose an overall picture of how things are in Finland. Then I told about the solutions our company has done and can do so that we can get more clients from the public sector.

C: It sounds like your presentation is well structured.

J: Exactly, that's why I wonder why one of the audience drew attention to this slide. It seemed petty.

C: Maybe so, but information deserves to be highlighted clearly.

J: That's why I came to ask you this. I've heard that you can advise?

C: Perhaps I can. But before that please explain how this slide relates to the topic of your presentation?


J: I showed the slide to clarify that in Finland, 83.5% of people have the opportunity to access internet on a daily basis. It's quite a high figure. If citizens have access to internet and they have a good use of electronic services, they can manage their affairs autonomously, without the need to take a personal contact in the public sector employees. Thus, in the long run, it's possible to streamline the public sector and save money.

C: That's a relevant message. Why then there are so many countries in the slide?

J: The European Union countries are a good point of comparison. In Italy, for example, less than half of the population can access internet, so the time is not ripe yet for e-services.

C: OK. In order to understand the matter further, please tell me how did you get these numbers?

J: I gathered the figures from the CIA World Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/.

C: What year?

J: The CIA World Factbook gives internet user statistics by country for 2009. The population is an estimate for 2011. I divided them in order to get the percentage.

C: Good work. The data source and date information should also be put clearly.

J: I told them in the lecture.

C: Okay.

J: And I was not criticized for the missing source.

C: I do not believe that's why.

J: So can you now explain how to improve this slide?

C: I am sorry, if I have not gone to the matter immediately, but I can't. In order to compose a meaningful diagram for the presentation, you must first be familiar with the audience and decide what is your message. Only then can I suggest what works.

J: Okay, so how can we improve this?

C: Do you accept two different answers?

J: What do you mean by two?

C: A presentation should be compact in order to convey an essential message. However, as background information, you might require more data.

J: So?

C: It seems that the information is quite comprehensive there, but I would also like to know what is the EU average? And perhaps also the United States, Japan, China, India, Brazil and Russia. As well as Norway, our neighbouring country.

J: Oh, but then the amount of information will only increase. Is it good?

C: Not per se, but it's important to understand the context. You must often gather more information, so that it can refine its core, which is distributed to the public.

J: Okay, I'll be back, as soon as I have collected that information.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/


(Junior Consultant collects the data and returns in the afternoon.)

J: Hi again, do you have any time now?

C: Of course.

J: I have collected the requested information in the table.

C: You were fast. Make a graph of them.

Country

Austria 74,8Belgium 77,8Brazil 37,4Bulgaria 47,9China 29,1Cyprus 38,7Czech Republic 65,6Denmark 85,9Estonia 75,7EU 66,9Finland 83,5France 69,3Germany 79,9Greece 46,2Hungary 61,9India 5,2Ireland 65,1Italy 47,9Japan 78,4Latvia 68,2Lithuania 55,6Luxembourg 84,3Malta 58,9Netherlands 88,3Norway 94,4Poland 58,4Portugal 48,0Romania 35,5Russia 29,4Slovakia 74,2Slovenia 64,9Spain 60,1Sweden 92,4United Kingdom 82,0United States 78,2

Internet users %


J: OK, here.

C: Now, the extreme ends stand out clearly, which is good, but Finland's rank is not clear among other countries. Sort the diagram in descending order, and display the numbers.

United StatesUnited Kingdom

Sw edenSpain

SloveniaSlovakia

RussiaRomaniaPortugal

PolandNorw ay

NetherlandsMalta

LuxembourgLithuania

LatviaJapan

ItalyIreland

IndiaHungaryGreece

GermanyFranceFinland

EUEstonia

DenmarkCzech Republic

CyprusChina

BulgariaBrazil

BelgiumAustria

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Internet Users %


J: Here you go.

C: Better. Now, It's easy to see that Finland has quite high position. The next phase will be to emphasize the data. Remove distracting lines. Reduce the intensity of the color and make bars a bit thicker. Remove the value axis, because it's not required here. Round the number to the nearest integer–decimal precision is an exaggeration, because the original data is not accurate.

IndiaChina

RussiaRomania

BrazilCyprusGreeceBulgaria

ItalyPortugal

LithuaniaPoland

MaltaSpain

HungarySlovenia

IrelandCzech Republic

EULatvia

FranceSlovakiaAustriaEstoniaBelgium

United StatesJapan

GermanyUnited Kingdom

FinlandLuxembourg

DenmarkNetherlands

Sw edenNorw ay

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

5,229,129,4

35,537,438,7

46,247,947,948,0

55,658,458,960,161,964,965,165,666,968,269,3

74,274,875,777,878,278,479,982,083,584,385,988,3

92,494,4

Internet Users %


J: Here you go.

C: Almost done. Highlight with a different color the bar, which the audience is interested in, that is, Finland. Place the number on the bar.

IndiaChina

RussiaRomania


ItalyPortugal

LithuaniaPoland

MaltaSpain

HungarySlovenia


EULatvia


United StatesJapan


FinlandLuxembourg

DenmarkNetherlands

Sw edenNorw ay

52929

363739

46484848

5658596062656566676869

747576787878808284848688

9294

Internet Users %


J: Here you go.

C: Great. This is the best we get, if we use all the data. Now, let's do the analysis.

J: So, we begin to weed out information, because all countries do not fit into a slide?

C: Exactly. What do you think? Which countries make a good comparison with Finland?

J: Hmm, it depends on how many countries I can choose?

C: The rule of thumb says you remember 6 to 8 things at a time. In addition to Finland, take 5-7 countries.

J: So, Sweden, the EU average, Italy, Russia, the United States, India.

C: Well chosen. Visualize it!

IndiaChina

RussiaRomania


ItalyPortugal

LithuaniaPoland

MaltaSpain

HungarySlovenia


EULatvia


United StatesJapan


FinlandLuxembourg

DenmarkNetherlands

Sw edenNorw ay

529293637394648484856585960626565666768697475767878788082

8486889294

84

Internet Users %


J: Here you go.

C: That communicates your message well. Now fit it into the slide.

J: Here you go.

C: That's it.

J: Thank you for your help!

India

Russia

Italy

EU

United States

Finland

Sw eden

5

29

48

67

78

92

84

Internet Users %

data visualization, refining information for a presentation

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