Information visualizations are used to make quantitative data legible. They are particularly useful for large amounts of information and for making patterns in the data legible in a condensed form. All information visualizations are metrics expressed as graphics. The implications of this simple statement are far ranging—anything that can be quantified, given a numerical value, can be turned into a chart, map, timeline, diagram, or other visualization through computational means. All parts of the process—from creating quantified information to producing visualizations—are acts of interpretation. Understanding how graphic formats impose meaning, or semantic value, is crucial to the production of information visualization. But any sense that “data” has an inherent “visual form” is an illusion. The challenge is to understand how the information visualization creates an argument and then make use of the graphical format whose features serve your purpose.
Reading
Cartographies of Time – Chapter 1
https://www.propublica.org/nerds/some-thoughts-on-timelines
Timelines are not always lines: An evaluation of different timeline shapes
Media
Video: Spatial & temporal digital mapping in research & teaching
Video: Temporal Data Visualization
Website: http://histography.io/
Exercises
After your have completed your reading annotations use https://timeline.knightlab.com/ to create a timeline on a humanities topic of your choice with 6 entries. Explore adding images, links, and media in your timeline entries. Embed your timeline in a post at your site. In your post discuss why you chose that topic along with any issues/solutions you may have encountered while building it.Â