Visualizing Information

Artists, kids, yoga instructors, professors, project managers – every walk of life visualizes information that matters to them every day. But what about when the information is complex statistical data? How do we visualize it? Spreadsheets, graphs, endless streams of numbers? We naturally become disconnected to numbers if we can’t identify or visualize the significance of the data.

Here’s a technology that has taken statistics and made the information visual. Gapminder’s Trendalyzer software. Google has acquired them into their fold. Here’s a video from Gapminder giving a demo. It’s an hour long – take a peek and if you toggle forward 6 minutes into it, you’ll see a fascinating depiction of how housing across the world ranges from the poorest to the richest on "Dollar Street." When you see the "data" presented, do you feel yourself identifying with the significance of the numbers?

This is a great example of how people and technology are making information meaningful. What are some other examples out there?