How technology is both a blessing and a curse
Alan Smith OBE @theboysmithy Data Visualisation Editor #NTTS2019 Brussels, 12 March
Data visualisation
ArtTechnology
Science
DV
Technology
19th Century
Luigi Perozzo, “Stereogram” of Swedish census
21st Century
CB Insights (via WTFViz) Goldman Sachs open job listings
Silo
Collaborative
Divergent
Escaping the silo
d3.js
“For more than a month, I used Tableau to recreate the guide so the Tableau
Community could use these examples to learn and guide their work”
Andy Kriebel
“It looks like you’re trying to produce a
terrible chart. Would you like me to help?”
Clippy
datavizsociety.slack.com
medium.com/multiple-views-visualization-research-explained
Divergent thinking
Willard Brinton Graphic Presentation (1939)
Rethinking the yield curve
A yield curve inversion has preceded every recession in the US since WWII
Spread
data sonification
Using a whole tone musical scale to sonify the yield curve
C D E
F# G# A#
C3
C3 D3 E3 F#3 G#3 A#3 C4 D4 E4 F#4 G#4 A#4 C5 D5 E5 F#5 G#5 A#5 C6 D6 E6 F#6 G#6 A#6
C4 C5 C6
A six tone scale in which each note is placed a whole tone (2 notes) apart from its nearest neighbours...
...is mapped over 4 octaves to give 24 evenly spaced notes
The scale is then used to “quantise” the dataset, assigning each data point to a note in the scale
0 5 10 15Yield curve21/10/1987
An arpeggio of the notes allows the daily yield curve to be played, in this case as an ascending sequence of notes. Yield curve inversions ripple downwards, providing a big melodic contrast
An arpeggio of the notes allows the daily yield curve to be played, in this case as an ascending sequence of notes. Yield curve inversions ripple downwards, providing a big melodic contrast
The four octave range suits an instrument
such as the marimba
The four octave range suits an instrument
such as the marimba
Yields (%)
1 month bond 23/09/2016(0.09%) produces C3 note
1 year bond 03/09/1981(17.31%) produces A#6 note
MIDIMusical Instrument
Digital Interfacev1 1983
(v2 2019)
ft.com/chart-doctor@theboysmithy
How technology is both a blessing and a curse
Alan Smith OBE @theboysmithy Data Visualisation Editor #NTTS2019 Brussels, 12 March
Data visualisation