Comments on: MIT, I’m disappointed in you

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:00:59 +0000

Very Tufte-esque, as Mr. K points out. I’m saving this one for use in our Quantitative Reasoning course where we deal with how graphical images can be used to distort information.

By: mbork

mbork — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:29:40 +0000

Nice post. A few more examples of *how to visualize things in a _wrong_ way* are present in a documentation for PGF, a great (La)TeX package for authoring graphics. Let me google a bit for the manual… I’ve got it, it’s here: http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/graphics/pgf/base/doc/generic/pgf/version-for-pdftex/en/pgfmanual.pdf. See the chapter on “Guidelines on creating graphics” (or something like that). (Indeed, I would *never* use M$ Word for that kind of stuff – LaTeX + pgf is sooooo much better, and sooooo much more fun to use!)

By: samjshah

samjshah — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:18:51 +0000

Of course! Thanks!

By: Cathy Laguna

Cathy Laguna — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:56:45 +0000

I’m adding this blog entry to my website (if you don’t mind) I try to show students how the media uses the display of data to sway us but this one really isn’t a fair way to show the data!

Thanks!

By: samjshah

samjshah — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:12:54 +0000

Ah, I bought that and two other Tufte books for my undergrad adviser (he worked on history of science and visualizations). But I never got around to getting myself a copy! But now that I have end-of-school barnes&nobles gift cards, you’ve inspired me to get it… (and the card game “SET”).

Thanks!

By: Mr. K

Mr. K — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:52:53 +0000

This is a classic. I suggest reading Tufte's The Visual Display of Quantitative Data for more. Despite the dry title, it's one of my "must have" books.