teaching students to lie, manipulate, and mislead with information visualizations

TEACHING STUDENTS TO LIE, MISLEAD, AND MANIPULATE WITH INFORMATION VISUALIZATION

Libby Hemphill, PhD

Illinois Institute of Technology

ASSUMING …

Data literacy is important so that we can

• Tell compelling stories that others are more likely to repeat, remember, and act on

• Determine when someone else is trying to mislead using visualizations

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/graph-36-how-many-charts-there-are-right-here

INFORMING, PERSUADING, AND ILLUMINATING

BUILDING A VISUALIZATION

1. Determine the story you want to tell or question you want to answer

2. Find or collect the data you need

3. Sketch your design

4. Annotate your sketch

5. Construct your visualization

BUILDING A VISUALIZATION

1. Determine the story you want to tell or question you want to answer

2. Find or collect the data you need

3. Sketch your design

4. Annotate your sketch

5. Construct your visualization

LYING, MISLEADING, AND MANIPULATING

TRUNCATED AXES

TRUNCATED AXES

DECEPTIVE DIMENSIONSCIRCUMFERENCE AREA

http://www.vox.com/2014/8/20/6040435/als-ice-bucket-challenge-and-why-we-give-to-charity-donate

HARD TO READ FORMATS

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/08/12/apple-diversity-white-asian-male/13951329/http://www.storytellingwithdata.com/2014/08/design-with-audience-in-mind.html

SPURIOUS RELATIONSHIPS

http://www.tylervigen.com/

SPECIOUS MEASURES

YOUR TURN …

http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/2014/04/the-fine-line-between-confusion-and-deception/

PRACTICE

KEYS TO GOOD VISUALS

COMPUTER SCIENCE DEGREE CONFERRALS

EXERCISE ONE

RAW DATA

http://bit.ly/hemphill_wpi_data

DATA HERO

http://www.datahero.com

DIVERSITY IN TECH COMPANIES

EXERCISE TWO

RAW DATA

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/08/12/apple-diversity-white-asian-male/13951329/

EXCEL

TWEETS OVER TIME

EXERCISE THREE

TABLEAU

THANK YOUContact Info:

libby.hemphill@iit.edu

@libbyh

http://libbyh.com

Resource List:

http://bit.ly/hemphill_wpi_notes

Slides:

http://slideshare.net/libbyh

SUPPLEMENTAL SLIDES

MORE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

CAPTION THIS …

http://flowingdata.com/2014/07/02/jobs-charted-by-state-and-salary/

TELL A STORY ABOUT WORDS …

https://books.google.com/ngrams

CHECK YOUR ASSUMPTIONS…

https://apps.facebook.com/namegenweb/

MORE EXAMPLES OF GOOD VISUALIZATIONS

HIERARCHIES

http://newsmap.jp

TIME

http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager

NETWORKS

TIME

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html?_r=0

NETWORKS

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/02/weekinreview/02marsh.html