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Communicating Research: Visualising Data

Introduction to Data Visualisation

In today’s world, we are often flooded with information and encounter more data than we can make sense of.  Thus, the need to be able to present data which can be processed quickly is more acute now than ever. Humans are predisposed to recognise patterns, colours, shapes, length etc   They can process complex information that has been presented as a visual more quickly than raw data organised in a table.  MIT neuroscientists have reported that a human brain can process an image within 13 milliseconds, that is in the blink of an eye. 

We can visualise various types of data eg. numerical, spatial, temporal, textual, etc using appropriate tools to convey and deliver our message.

There are two goals when presenting data: convey your story and establish credibility - Edward Tufte

The Beauty of Data Visualization - David McCandless