Seven Deadly Infographics
August 15, 2006 12:11 AM Subscribe
The INA is a project out of Princeton's Sociology dept, focused in part on gathering data sets regarding globalization & making the information more publically digestable. Towards that end, these seven amazing infographics are provided covering the following topics: the Global Arms Trade, the US goverment as Employer, Transportation, The Coming Water Wars, The International Tobacco Industry, The Movie Business, and the prevalance & impact of McDonalds & Starbucks.
They look pretty cool, but I'm not sure how good they are at conveying accurate information.
Almost every single chart has an example where they measure by height, but also increase by volume, giving a serious distortion. Look at the number of starbucks worldwide graph for probably the most blatant example.
posted by scodger at 1:51 AM on August 15, 2006
Almost every single chart has an example where they measure by height, but also increase by volume, giving a serious distortion. Look at the number of starbucks worldwide graph for probably the most blatant example.
posted by scodger at 1:51 AM on August 15, 2006
Quite informative and aesthetically pleasing. I like these.
posted by Herr Fahrstuhl at 1:51 AM on August 15, 2006
posted by Herr Fahrstuhl at 1:51 AM on August 15, 2006
great topics, informative data, and horrible, horrible visualization.
posted by xthlc at 4:51 AM on August 15, 2006
posted by xthlc at 4:51 AM on August 15, 2006
Interesting data unfortunately obscured by chartjunk.
posted by Quietgal at 7:50 AM on August 15, 2006
posted by Quietgal at 7:50 AM on August 15, 2006
The government employees one is just awful. A simple table would be a much more efficient and legible method of displaying the same information. As it is, it's a mess. Is there even any rhyme or reason to the different font sizes, or did they just change font size at random? Yuck.
I think I get it though: this isn't about the efficient or "digestible" display of information. It's about advertising, or propaganda: display of information so as to support a particular viewpoint. Yuck again.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:23 PM on August 15, 2006
I think I get it though: this isn't about the efficient or "digestible" display of information. It's about advertising, or propaganda: display of information so as to support a particular viewpoint. Yuck again.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:23 PM on August 15, 2006
biffa writes "Belgium has the worst water in the world?"
Whatever "worst" means. It's not like this particular form of presentation gives you the slightest clue.
Bah. These are awful.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:42 PM on August 15, 2006
Whatever "worst" means. It's not like this particular form of presentation gives you the slightest clue.
Bah. These are awful.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:42 PM on August 15, 2006
"Informative", indeed.
From the movie chart, "As Hollywood continues to export its big budget blockbuster to as many as 177 countries, one market it fails to penetrate is India, where the rise of Bollywood has taken the country by storm"
"Rise" of Bollywood?!?
Hello! Bollywood's the native film industry and it has been in 'ascension' for, I don't know, 60 years now!
Later on, they go on to blame Bollywood's insular popularity on lack of "media conglomerates" and "major film studios". Maybe, the fact that Hollywood's big movies are visual spectacles may have more to do with it.
posted by Gyan at 5:14 PM on August 15, 2006
From the movie chart, "As Hollywood continues to export its big budget blockbuster to as many as 177 countries, one market it fails to penetrate is India, where the rise of Bollywood has taken the country by storm"
"Rise" of Bollywood?!?
Hello! Bollywood's the native film industry and it has been in 'ascension' for, I don't know, 60 years now!
Later on, they go on to blame Bollywood's insular popularity on lack of "media conglomerates" and "major film studios". Maybe, the fact that Hollywood's big movies are visual spectacles may have more to do with it.
posted by Gyan at 5:14 PM on August 15, 2006
patent administrators are licensed to carry firearms?
sadly i know no patent administrators personally, but if anyone on the blue does (or is indeed one) - have you ever had the need to use one?
posted by muthecow at 5:17 PM on August 15, 2006
sadly i know no patent administrators personally, but if anyone on the blue does (or is indeed one) - have you ever had the need to use one?
posted by muthecow at 5:17 PM on August 15, 2006
muthecow writes "patent administrators are licensed to carry firearms? "
I think you're misreading it (how'd you manage to do that!?). The color red seems to mean two different things on that chart. It means "licensed to carry a firearm" and "profession we've chosen to highlight on the pay scale chart, apparently at random". I don't know, though. They whole thing is supremely unclear.
Unless "patent administrator" is also in red and accompanied by a little gun icon in the muddled main field of the chart. I can't find it, given the lack of any reasonable organization like, say, alphabetical order.
posted by mr_roboto at 6:29 PM on August 15, 2006
I think you're misreading it (how'd you manage to do that!?). The color red seems to mean two different things on that chart. It means "licensed to carry a firearm" and "profession we've chosen to highlight on the pay scale chart, apparently at random". I don't know, though. They whole thing is supremely unclear.
Unless "patent administrator" is also in red and accompanied by a little gun icon in the muddled main field of the chart. I can't find it, given the lack of any reasonable organization like, say, alphabetical order.
posted by mr_roboto at 6:29 PM on August 15, 2006
Huh. All the hating on these graphs is having the odd effect of making me love them more.
posted by jonson at 12:20 AM on August 16, 2006
posted by jonson at 12:20 AM on August 16, 2006
Yeah, I'm with Johnson. I think the point of these is to communicate information to people who aren't in practice of getting meaningful information in the first place.
That is, if you know how to find this kind of information in the first place, these aren't for you.
I like 'em. They're pretty, like Maxim magazine.
posted by illovich at 6:29 AM on August 17, 2006
That is, if you know how to find this kind of information in the first place, these aren't for you.
I like 'em. They're pretty, like Maxim magazine.
posted by illovich at 6:29 AM on August 17, 2006
illovich writes "I think the point of these is to communicate information to people who aren't in practice of getting meaningful information in the first place. "
That doens't make any sense. The "aren't in the practice of getting meaningful information" so we should give them jumbled, difficult-to-absorb, propaganistic information?
posted by mr_roboto at 8:28 AM on August 17, 2006
That doens't make any sense. The "aren't in the practice of getting meaningful information" so we should give them jumbled, difficult-to-absorb, propaganistic information?
posted by mr_roboto at 8:28 AM on August 17, 2006
illovich writes "Yeah, I'm with Johnson. I think the point of these is to communicate information to people who aren't in practice of getting meaningful information in the first place. "
Well, then, we've got a problem, because it doesn't communicate that information. And if you're in the practive of getting meaningful information in the first place, you'll be more able to determine, for example, that the gun represents gun licensing but the color red doesn't, so patent administrators may look like they're licensed to carry, but they aren't, and it may look like there are 20 times more Starbucks in 2003 than in 1999, but there aren't.
So the people who are most likely to get the information in the graphs are the people used to looking at proper graphs, and they hate these graphs. The people who aren't in the practice of getting meaningful information in the first place will be further misled by these graphs.
posted by Bugbread at 9:12 AM on August 17, 2006
Well, then, we've got a problem, because it doesn't communicate that information. And if you're in the practive of getting meaningful information in the first place, you'll be more able to determine, for example, that the gun represents gun licensing but the color red doesn't, so patent administrators may look like they're licensed to carry, but they aren't, and it may look like there are 20 times more Starbucks in 2003 than in 1999, but there aren't.
So the people who are most likely to get the information in the graphs are the people used to looking at proper graphs, and they hate these graphs. The people who aren't in the practice of getting meaningful information in the first place will be further misled by these graphs.
posted by Bugbread at 9:12 AM on August 17, 2006
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posted by wumpus at 12:41 AM on August 15, 2006