week 5 Discussion

Yiyong Cao 

Week 5 discussion

COLLAPSE

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From this week’s readings and videos, we learned how to visualize data, tell story, create KPIs. And the video How to sot a misleading graph impressed me most, and I want to talk something about it. Gaslowitz (2017) in this video pointed that graphs can mislead and outright manipulate. Usually, we would think that graphs can truly and directly represent some facts through data, but in fact, graphs also can distort the truth and mislead us through some techniques. So, when we look at a graph, we should pay attention to the scale of the horizontal and vertical axes. And more importantly, one type of pitfall I overlooked before is that a trend expressed by some linked point sometime can also show wrong information, because some key turning points might be not included in the graph, leading to a totally different conclusion. So, we cannot be fascinated by the visual appearance. Critical thinking is a good way for us to find the hidden truth. Try to think more, and ask more questions. And I think another thing we should be concerned, is how and where the graphs get their numbers, and more clarification is required for providing readers supporting to decide whether to believe the graph or not, or dig more important things which not indicated by the original graph. And when we use visualizing tools for presenting our data, we also need to pay attention to check and explain the graph carefully for not misleading. In real life, many  information we see, especially graphic information, is deliberately designed to attract readers. We cannot use morality to restrain the behavior of information producers, but we can improve ourselves’ vigilance.

 

Reference:

Lea Gaslowitz. (2017). How to sot a misleading graph. From  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E91bGT9BjYk

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