Unpacking charts

We will start investigating charts by looking at existing graphics, and determining things about them.

Specifically, I would like you to consider:

• what are the observations?
• what are the variables?
• how many variables appear in the chart?
• are the variables categorical or quantitative? How can you tell?
• where did the data come from?
• who was the intended audience for the chart?

Here are some pieces of communication that have caught my eye recently:

• Big Money Bought the Forests. Small Logging Communities Are Paying the Price
• An Illustrated Guide to Masked Wrestlers
• Driving habits and gas prices shift into reverse
• How Data Made Me A Believer In New York City’s Restaurant Grades
• The Deadliest Jobs in America
• They Won’t Play a Lady-O on Country Radio
• Minnesota is losing more college students than it attracts, a troubling trend
• The Places Most Affected by Remote Workers’ Moves Around the Country (gift link)
• The risk of damage from hurricane winds will shift in coming decades. See the impact by Zip code

After that, we’ll discuss this flowchart:

• Choosing a good chart

Old links

Tweets:

• Energy usage in the UK (twitter thread)
• Milk consumption in Hennepin county
• January temperature
• Student performance

Longer-form:

• Guessing names based on what they start with
• The Deadly Lure of City Lights
• Success is in the cards for Nintendo (bonus 3D chart)
• Beating the odds
• How unpredictable is your subway commute?