Visualizing Data: On Edward Tufte

 This week in Visualizing Data, we were asked to explore an delve into the work of Edward Tufte, specifically with regard to these two videos:  1, 2. We were then asked to explore a set of questions, as follows:

With Tufte’s close examination of the iPhone, did you find yourself alerted to interface elements you were aware of but hadn’t paid attention to? 
Maybe it's because I've had an iPhone for going on two years, or maybe because I've developed for it, but I didn't particularly find myself taken by surprise by any of the elements illustrated.


Does Tufte make assertions that you disagree with? (Choose a specific example and explain.) 
While I agree with Tufte's quest for more granularity on the weather page,  I disagree with his similar assessment of the stock market page.  While granular weather data (and a map) is something that carries weight for everyone, I think that most people, when checking their stocks, are looking for an extremely high level "what's the Dow" type of insight.  Tufte's stock graphic contained far too much information, and wasn't in the spirit of what the iPhone provides:  on the go data.  If I needed to go dissect 12 months of stock data, I wouldn't be picking up my iPhone; I'd be sitting down at a desk.


Where does Tufte think the best visualizations of today are published? 
Tufte expresses that the best visualizations come from those with extensive quantitative skills.  Specifically, he cites the "rock stars" of scientific journals, namely Science and Nature. 


What’s his logic for this conclusion? 
 His logic is based in the fact that the individuals producing these articles are extremely bright, have large data sets, and are offered limited space for their publications.  The result is a necessity to design high efficiency, extremely dense data presentations.


In general who does he see as the creators of great data visualizations? Scientists? Graphic Artists? Programmers? 
While he doesn't express a completely final opinion, it seems that Tufte has high regard for the actual producers of the data, who have a deep level of understanding for it.  In his description, he seems to focus most on scientists, while at the same time noting that certain people may need to assistance or hand holding of a graphic designer or artists.

What’s your own opinion, and what do you consider your label or role to be? 
 I think it's extremely difficult to make conclusions that are quite as decisive as Tufte's.  He seems to have relatively black and white opinions about the topic, and I actually feel that as time progresses that those who embrace multiple disciplines are those that will garner the most success.  As such, this is what I'm trying to do personally, and much of the reason I'm at ITP.  I already have an extensive technical skill set, but I want to augment that with other skills and insights, to ultimately yield a wider breadth of understanding.


How might an “anti-social network” function?
I think about this quite a bit, because socialization can be so life-dominating, that it almost seems like anti-socialization is going to become a useful and necessary tool.  Most obviously, an anti-social network might simply limit your media access to things that you needed to focus on, and keep the rest of the world at bay.  However, it could also do things to stratify people based on what they didn't like, and essentially do the reverse of all the attempted "matching" of similar interests that goes on today.