Library: Visual Literacy: Graphic Data

Understanding Infographics

A Tour Through the Information Zoo
Detailed review of types of infographics available for time series data, hierarchies, networks, maps, and statistical distributions. Includes interactive examples.
Understanding Infographics
Good introduction to common characteristics of effective data visualization through the use of infographics.

Information Graphic	Data visualization
	http://www.creem.st-and.ac.uk/roland/talk7.pdf
A graphical representation of data, information, or knowledge that includes non-data elements as well.	A graphical representation of quantifiable data (numerical), usually by means of well-known chart, graph or map types.
often non-quantifiable information	quantifiable information
often used to support information, strengthen it	typically a more complex examination of a set of statistics
specific	general
context-sensitive	context-free
often hand-crafted, often quite beautiful	often created automatically
used to tell a story answer a question show a process point out a relationship	allows the viewer to explore the data/information in different ways

Resources

Guardian Data Blog
Infographics and comments regarding current events and cultural issues. Includes data summaries and downloadable spreadsheets for most of the graphics. From the UK newspaper, The Guardian.
Visual Complexity
Resources for data visualization of complex networks.
Cool Infographics
Blog highlights some of the best examples of data visualizations and infographics found in magazines, newspapers and on the Internet.

Tools

Google Chart Tools
Only for use on your website or Google document (does not store your data). Wizard will help beginner’s create static images. Interactive tools for advance users available.
Graph Viz: Graphic Visualization Software
Diagrams and abstract graphs for technical applications (bioinformatics, engineering, web design, etc.). Better suited for advanced users.
IAN Symbol Library
Royalty free images and photographs for universal symbolic representation. Diagram generator available.
Open Heat Map
Create maps that show change in a data set over time. Software will automatically create maps based upon your data labels i.e. address, country, or zip code.
Quantum GIS (QGIS)
This is full-fledged GIS software, designed for creating maps that offer sophisticated, detailed data-based analysis of a geographic regions.
Tableau Public
Drag and drop interface and customization tools that are suited for complex and/or interactive data sets.