The Briefing Room with Dr. Robin Bloor and IBM Business Analytics Live Webcast Oct. 29, 2013 Watch the archive: https://bloorgroup.webex.com/bloorgroup/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=EC&rID=7691327&rKey=cd0c2bf8140ac684 You know that a-ha moment--when you discover that key business insight. That special moment often occurs when you design an effective data visualization. The obvious challenge is that doing so usually requires far more than a pie chart. Luckily, there's something of a revolution happening in the field of data visualization. Thanks to the powers of standards and collaboration, the variety of data visualizations available to information workers is at an all-time high. Register for this episode of The Briefing Room to learn from veteran Analyst Dr. Robin Bloor, who will explain why a proliferation of new data visualization options is fundamentally changing the way analytics deliver value. He'll be briefed by Noah Iliinsky of IBM, who will tout his company's new extensible visualization capabilities, which give end users access to an ever-growing library of data visualizations. He'll also discuss his four pillars for effective visualizations, and how professionals can use them to create lasting impact. Visit InsideAnalysis.com for more information

1. Rave Reviews – How to Dazzle Decision-Makers with Data
The Briefing Room

2. Welcome
Host:
Eric Kavanagh
eric.kavanagh@bloorgroup.com
Twitter Tag: #briefr
The Briefing Room

3. Mission
! Reveal the essential characteristics of enterprise software,
good and bad
! Provide a forum for detailed analysis of today s innovative
technologies
! Give vendors a chance to explain their product to savvy
analysts
! Allow audience members to pose serious questions... and get
answers!
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The Briefing Room

4. Topics
November: DATA DISCOVERY & VISUALIZATION
December: INNOVATORS
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The Briefing Room

5. Data Visualization
“
Learning
is
more
effec.ve
when
it
is
an
ac.ve
rather
than
a
passive
process.
~Euripides
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6. Analyst: Robin Bloor
Robin Bloor is
Chief Analyst at
The Bloor Group
robin.bloor@bloorgroup.com
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7. IBM
! IBM Business Analytics offers a wide range of business
intelligence, analytics and performance management
solutions
! Many Eyes, powered by the IBM Rapidly Adaptive
Visualization Engine (RAVE), is a web community that helps
users create advanced visualizations from public data sets
! Visualizations can be shared and embedded
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The Briefing Room

8. Guest: Noah Iliinski
Noah Iliinski,
Visualization Expert
at IBM
Twitter Tag: #briefr
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9. Noah Iliinsky
Center for Advanced Visualization, IBM
@noahi
Extensible Visualization &
Four Pillars of Visualization
© 2013 IBM Corporation

10. About the Speaker
§ Noah Iliinsky
§ Center for Advanced Visualization, IBM
§ Noah Iliinsky is the author of Designing
Data Visualizations and the technical editor
of, and a contributor to, Beautiful
Visualizations, both published by O’Reilly
Media.
§ He has spent the last several years
researching effective approaches to
creating diagrams and data visualization.
§ He has a master’s in Technical
Communication from the University of
Washington, and a bachelor’s in Physics
from Reed College
© 2013 IBM Corporation

11. Why Visualization?
© 2013 IBM Corporation

12. Why visualization?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anscombe%27s_quartet
© 2013 IBM Corporation

13. Visualization makes data accessible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anscombe%27s_quartet
© 2013 IBM Corporation

14. Visualization allows access to huge amounts of data.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVimVzgtD6w
© 2013 IBM Corporation

15. Why extensible visualization?
© 2013 IBM Corporation

16. Visualization Extensibility - Concept
The old way…
Fixed
Charting
Library
Analytics &
Visualization
Engine
The new way…
Extensible
Charting
Library
Visualization
Description
Analytics &
RAVE Visualization
Engine
© 2013 IBM Corporation

17. Integrate extensible visualizations into Cognos reports
l
l
l
Unleashes business users from a static
library of charts
Quick and simple download of
visualizations from new AnalyticsZone.com
into reports for
- Cognos Business Intelligence V10.2.1
- Cognos Express
Active reports with animated charts and
additional chart interactivity also available
on Mobile iPad, enabling the rich discovery
of insights from anywhere
© 2013 IBM Corporation

18. New visualizations are a simple download away
NEW! Visualization Marketplace
Browse and download from over 30
visualizations from the extensible
visualization community.
l
Scatter
l
Gantt
l
Area
l
Radar
l
Boxplot
l
Dial
l
Treemap/Heatmap
l
Plus a continually growing set of
visualizations
analyticszone.com/visualization
18
© 2013 IBM Corporation

19. The Upside of Flexibility
© 2013 IBM Corporation

20. When are visualizations
successful?
20
© 2013 IBM Corporation

21. A Successful Visualization
1. purpose – why this visualization
2. content – what to visualize
3. structure – how to visualize it
4. formatting – everything else
© 2013 IBM Corporation

22. Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
• Why am I creating this
visualization?
• Who is it for?
• What do they need to
understand?
• What actions do you
need to enable?
• How will it be consumed?
http://www.apple.com
© 2013 IBM Corporation

23. Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
Purpose dictates the deliverable.
Different destinations require different maps.
http://maps.google.com
© 2013 IBM Corporation

24. Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
http://many-eyes.com/manyeyes/page/Visualization_Options.html
© 2013 IBM Corporation

25. Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
• What data matters?
• What relationships matter?
• Informed by purpose!
• What’s excluded is as important as
what’s included.
© 2013 IBM Corporation

26. Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
http://demographics.coopercenter.org/DotMap/index.html
© 2013 IBM Corporation

27. Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
http://demographics.coopercenter.org/DotMap/index.html
© 2013 IBM Corporation

28. Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-bigger-than-microsoft-2012-2
© 2013 IBM Corporation

29. Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
• How do we best reveal the most
important data and relationships?
• Choose meaningful layout and axes!
• Use both axes! (Both, not three…)
• Informed by purpose and content!
© 2013 IBM Corporation

30. Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
Structure fail.
http://ilovecharts.tumblr.com/post/33308788744/from-the-boston-metro-oct-10th-hannabeth-well
© 2013 IBM Corporation

31. Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
Structure fixed.
http://ilovecharts.tumblr.com/post/33308788744/from-the-boston-metro-oct-10th-hannabeth-well
© 2013 IBM Corporation

32. Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
http://many-eyes.com/manyeyes/page/Visualization_Options.html
© 2013 IBM Corporation

33. Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
• How should it look and feel?
• How will it be consumed?
• Makes data and relationships
accessible.
• Makes importance visible.
• Informed by purpose, content, and
structure!
© 2013 IBM Corporation

34. Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pound_layer_cake.jpg
Formatting
Structure
Content
Purpose
© 2013 IBM Corporation

35. Purpose > Content > Structure > Formatting
http://ComplexDiagrams.com/properties
© 2013 IBM Corporation

36. Creating effective
visualizations
Choosing the right visual properties
Learn how to properly choose the visual property
(position, shape, size, color and others) to
encode the different types of data that will be
presented in a visualization.
Download your copy
http://bit.ly/successfulvis
© 2013 IBM Corporation

37. Checklist
• Is the purpose well-defined?
• Does the content support the
purpose?
• Does the structure reveal the content?
• Does the formatting facilitate
consumption?
• Iterate, iterate, iterate…
© 2013 IBM Corporation

38. Engage IBM Visualization Luminaries
IBM Many Eyes: Learn and Create
• Learn visualization best practices, insights and futures
from IBM visualization luminaries
• Create a visualization in three steps
• ibm.com/manyeyes
Follow IBM visualization luminaries
• @manyeyes
• @noahi
© 2013 IBM Corporation

39. © 2013 IBM Corporation

40. Perceptions & Questions
Analyst:
Robin Bloor
Twitter Tag: #briefr
The Briefing Room

42. Minard’s Visualization
Dimensions: Advance/retreat (color), geographical
location, number of men, temperature, distance & time

43. Tables and Dimensions
The problems with“unvisualized” data:
u Every
u Time
column in a table is a dimension
is a critical dimension
u Some
dimensions have high variability (say 00.00
to 1,000,000.00), others low variability (male/
female), others are descriptors or UIDs
u A
table is possibly the worst way to represent
data helpfully – although you can do things with
a table (counts, averages, etc.)
u It’s
a very good way to store data

44. Information Service
There are many reasons why data may be provided to
people:
u To
inform or alert them
u To
motivate them
u To
entertain them
u To
assist them (assist decisions)
u To
empower them (or evaluate them?)
u To
educate them (or help them self-educate)
THE CONTEXT DETERMINES THE INFORMATION SERVICE
AND ITS CHARACTER

45. Consumers & Explorers
THE CONSUMER
SPECIFIC
USER
TYPES:
Needs to be
informed and/or
enabled in an
easily digested
manner
THE EXPLORER
Needs to be
provided with:
• an exploratory
capability
• a versatile set of tools
• a versatile set of
visualizations
• training/education

46. Two Distinct Modes
There are two distinct modes of information usage:
u REAL-TIME/BUSINESS-TIME:
Information is a
contributor to another activity
u CONTEMPLATIVE
•
•
•
ANALYSIS:
Information is a material to work with and
analyze
Visualization contributes to this analysis
Just as there are statistical algorithms, there
are visual algorithms
NOTE THAT ANIMATION ADDS A DIMENSION.
WE CAN SEE THINGS VIA ANIMATION THAT WOULD
OTHERWISE BE INVISIBLE.

47. The Burning Question
WHICH data
visualizations are
the most effective
for WHAT?

48. u What
does IBM know about the effectiveness of
any specific visualization and how do we know it?
How is it measured?
u Is
there a relationship between visualization and
data volumes? If so, what is it?
u Are
some people poor at deriving meaning from
visualization – and yet skilled in other ways?
u What
is the learning dimension and how is it
characterized?

49. u What
does IBM know about animation and
cognition, if anything?
u You
suggest that there are best practices. How
do we know – what research has been done? Are
there cultural variances?
u Are
there visualizations that are yet to be
discovered?

50. Twitter Tag: #briefr
The Briefing Room

51. Upcoming Topics
November: DATA DISCOVERY & VISUALIZATION
December: INNOVATORS
2014 Editorial Calendar coming soon!
www.insideanalysis.com
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52. Thank You
for Your
Attention
Image credits: bloomua / 123RF Stock Photo and ra2studio / 123RF Stock Photo
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