“Jess Hull’s Worldy Wanderings” – Assignment #2 (Datavisualisation)

1. Build a data visualisation: scientific, sociological, ecological, personal (your own life,
for example, is a trove of data: blog posts, browser history, last.fm, iTunes, books
read, TV watched, meals eaten…). If the data is not your own, ensure that it is used
under an appropriate license. The visualisation can be either algorithmically
generated or hand-crafted, but consider how its design can help the user discern
patterns hidden in the “raw” data. Demonstrate an awareness of how different types
of visualisations are more or less useful at achieving their aims. Consult with your
tutor on possible techniques and forms to present your visualisation.

a) I have chosen to build a datavisualisation of the time I have spent overseas in the 20 years I have been alive. This is a personal datavisualisation, but could easily be the same for any other young person who has taken a gap year or travelled extensively.  I chose this topic as it is one that I know a great deal about, and could be useful to another person who is preparing, or thinking about travelling overseas.

b) The theme I have chosen is (I believe) clear and easily read.   I chose ‘Century Gothic’ as my font because I felt it was a clear and easily read type, that felt young and fresh.   The color scheme is bright and eye catching, but hopefully does not take away from the text or graphs.

c) The visualisation is algorithmically generated using the graph generator on microsoft excel, then tailored to my specifications in photoshop.   I chose a pie chart, a flow chart, a map and a bar graph because I felt that these were charts that younger people encounter frequently and would be able to read. I chose to display ‘facts’ from the charts or from data I gathered from my computer because it seems that people like ‘facts’ that they can recite to other people.   These do not nessesarily tell you what you do not already know, but display information in a way that is easily recited.

Overall I am happy with my work. If I were to do it again I would print it off as the piece is meant to be veiwed on A3 Paper, and some text will be small when veiwed on a computer screen. Also, I would use only 5 or 6 colors.

datavis-jesshull

currently listening to: Silhouetic – Birds of Tokyo

i found this on postsecret on sunday (it was one of the sunday secrets) and it made me smile. one of the happiest things i can remember from the last two years travelling round the world was not when i was travelling with friends, but when i was in london on my own and met this random aussie dude. i was sort of stranded and drunk after attending ‘the church’ and was wandering around aimlessly inside a horrible aussie bar in southbush, NOWHERE near where i was staying at the time. so this dude i had been playing drinking games with told me they had a spare bed at his place, OK! so here i am, dressed as some aussie wife beater, no shoes, covered in filth, heading home with a painter dressed half as a native american and half AFL player, that i don’t even know!

brilliant.

he was such an awesome dude, they let me stay at their place, didn’t rob me, or steal any vital organs. all in all, a good guy.

xxx