Like lots of libraries – and many other kinds of businesses and work – my library closed to the students, faculty, staff, and public back in the cold days of March. We worked remotely beginning March 16 and stayed that way all the way up to … August 3. Just shy of 5 months. Even living through it, it seems surreal. Our doors reopened with limited hours, a skeleton crew, and a whole lot of new rules (we wait to see how well people will comply) to hopefully keep us safe and free from exchanging the COVID virus that’s ravaged our societies.
I got through the months at home by doing a lot of streaks – songs, doodles, walks, the NYTimes crossword puzzle. I kept busy with things for work, but honestly struggled with the routine of working remotely. I’m not really made for it. I like the connection aspects of my job. I like coming into work. I like separating work from home. That whole work-life balance idea? It’s hard enough to balance it in our usual, virtually-connected world. Add remote working to it and … MALARKEY!
I have a lot of thoughts about these things – a lot of concerns for the future of work, i.e. how it will happen and some of the new norms we’ll accept, thanks to COVID. But that’s for another post. I also have several posts gestating about some of the really terrific professional development opportunities I’ve taken advantage of over the past months, including the vConference of the Medical Library Association and FORCE 11’s Scholarly Communications Institute (FSCI). I look forward to sharing them here, too (sketchnotes included).
For now, I’m just a couple hours away from a mini-staycation, getting ready to monitor the LibChat service at the end of the day, and taking advantage of a quiet office space. I’m enjoying doing exercises in my new copy of “Observe, Collect, Draw!” by Georgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec, based on their wonderful book, “Dear Data” that came out a few years back. I loved their book and wondered how to ever come up with my own style for doing what they did. Fortunately, this visual journal is filled with exercises to help me do just that. I plan to have it accompany me on part of my staycation, for sure.
I’ve spent most of today preparing for a joint department retreat that I’m co-leading next Friday. We’re incorporating some of the tools learned through participation in the EXCITE Transformation for Libraries learning program that several of us in the library have attended over the past year. One of these tools is the use of picture cards to prompt responses. For example, I give you a picture of a chicken and you share how you’re like the picture and how you’re not like it. You can really ask any kind of question. The goal is to use the images to help you think creatively.
Here’s one to try:
Kangaroo Island, South Australia
How is this picture like your job? How is it not like your job?
My answers: It’s like my job because I always have something going on, some movement, some project, some task to tackle. They ebb and flow, like waves, but never stop completely. It’s not like my job because it’s repetitive. The waves have a rhythm to them. My job can be different every day. Now you’re turn. Feel free to add your answers in the comments section.
New Arrivals!
I was most excited when my brand new, hot-off-the-press copy of Stephanie Evergreen’s Effective Data Visualization, 2nd Edition arrived early this week. The 1st edition has been an invaluable resource over the past few years. The latest offers up a whole new section on charts for qualitative data, plus additional types of charts and graphs for quantitative data. Evergreen is a terrific instructor and her knowledge jumps from the page. I’ve touted her work numerous times on my blog. Count this as one more. She’s a go-to resource, for sure.
I also treated myself to her new, The Data Visualization Sketch Book. It’s filled with tips and templates, all designed to get my thinking cap and my pencil going before I sit down at my computer. This is a vital step in good data visualization and one that too often gets skipped. The sketch book is a nice tool to build the habit into your process.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading, enjoy the holiday weekend (here in the USA), and happy graduation to many! Until next time…
I was invited to give an 8-minute lightning talk at this evening’s SLA New England event in Boston called, Organizing Our Digital World. My topic is data visualization. Easy, right? Normally, yes, but in this case I have to give a talk on data visualization without the use of any visuals! I love a good challenge and this was just that. I mulled for weeks over how I might pull this off until it finally came to me, Schoolhouse Rock!Remember those? I loved them as a kid. I still know many by heart. And so I thought, if I can still remember conjunctions thanks to Conjunction Junction, maybe folks will be able to remember a few things about choosing the right chart for presenting data if I put the rules into a song.
Well, per my usual, my song became lengthy and wordy and without a good hook like, “Conjunction Junction, what’s your function…” but I still think it will work for tonight. Now I just need 2 minutes of fill to get to the 8-minute mark!
A huge credit for the basis of this song goes to Stephanie Evergreen. Her book, Effective Data Visualization, is a constant companion in my work and what I know of choosing the right charts, I learned from her books, tutorials, blog posts, and more. If you need some expert advice in this area, do seek her out.
So here’s the song (truly, a one-shot practice filmed in my studio last night). You’ll find the lyrics below. Feel free to sing along!
Data Viz: A Lesson in Verse Sally Gore
I was spending time looking at some data Figuring out the story it could tell. Taking time studying the data Lots of rows and columns in Excel. I needed to get a report to my boss, I needed to get it to her quick. And though I wasn’t shooting for form over function I still wanted to make it something slick.
I took a moment, pulled some books from my shelf. Seeking out some expert advice. Two books by Stephanie Evergreen, I think they’re worth much more than their price. I flipped to the page that talks about the science, The work of Cleveland and McGill Turns out that humans aren’t innate at reading data And choosing the right charts takes some skill.
One of the books has a “Chart Chooser Cheat Sheet” That I find an awful handy tool. Plus a deck of “Chart Chooser” cards Together they help me learn the rules. So when I was invited to give this talk Without the use of any picture cues I thought I’d try and turn the rules into song To quickly teach them all to you.
So here we go …
When you’ve got a single number That you’re trying to convey A single number of great importance, The simple, single thing the numbers say. The easiest means to get that thought across, Is forget about charts of any kind, Just write that number big and loud on the page There’s no need to clutter people’s minds.
Other times you need to describe, How two numbers are alike or not. Bars side-by-side or back-to-back, Try these or else a dot plot. If you’ve got one group in particular That changes while the others stay the same Consider how a slopegraph can easily show The difference that you’re trying to claim.
Many times you’ll find you’ve got a benchmark And the story’s all about meeting goals. Often times we measure performance It’s important when we’re talking bankrolls. A benchmark line across a line of columns Will easily get the point across. So will a bullet chart or indicator dots, Pick and choose from these for the boss.
Now you know we LOVE to give surveys, So what the survey says, we’ll need to show. For this task there are lots of choices Involving bars stacked up in a row. Stacked or diverging, aggregated, too, Or a bunch of small multiples across the top. And if you get tired of plain old bars, Show the same thing with a lollipop.
What about when there are parts of a whole, Like a bunch of demographics of a group? It’s easy to default to that famous old pie chart But listen up folks, here’s the scoop. Pie charts are old, pie charts are boring But most they’re often difficult to read Try a histogram, a tree map, a stacked bar instead Or perhaps no visual is what you need.
Sometimes you’ve got some data that shows How things changed over time. It’s really pretty common, we see it quite a lot, Did our numbers shrink or did they climb? Well a few chart types that I sung about already In this case will also do the trick Think line graph, a slope graph, a dot plot, too, Or a deviation bar’s a perfect pick.
Now you might be asking, “How about a scatterplot?” I learned of those in Stats 101.” And I must admit finding patterns in a scatter Really can be a lot of fun. A bunch of points plotted ‘cross an “X” and a “Y” Show relationships between “A” and “B” – When “A” does this, “B” does that, And is there any trend that you can see?
Sometimes your data isn’t numbers at all, But rather lots of words said or wrote. Qualitative methods produce the kind of data, Where the words give the meaning to take note. Callouts are useful, heat maps can help, Or you can make a cloud filled with words. Each of these is handy, each of these works, And your meaning won’t get lost on numbers nerds.
So that’s a few tips, I hope you find helpful When you think about the story you can tell As you’re sitting there staring at a spreadsheet of data And all you really want to do is yell. Start at step one, learn the different charts And when and how and where they work best. Once you’ve conquered that you just need to learn to make them Step-by-step, you’ll have passed the test.
And no one will sit there staring at your PowerPoint slide or your report or your article wondering, “What the heck does this mean?!
