[UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2015] Most of the time when we think about representing numbers in a visual way, we think about things like bar graphs and pie charts. These can be great tools for displaying development indicators, but recent software advancements have created a wealth of additional resources and tips for presenting data in ways that are both visually appealing and easy to understand. This field is called 'data visualization', and is loosely defined as the creation and study of the visual representation of data.
Those of us who work with data know that it is most useful when widely disseminated and shared with others – and this is where the popular emerging field of data visualization comes in. It focuses on creating data representations that are clear, attractive, and message-driven. Some big players have emerged in this field in recent years, including Edward Tufte, Stephanie Evergreen, Stephen Few, and Hans Rosling.
In this Trending Topic list we present some high-quality and easy to use tools to help you visualize your data, as well as some examples of how country projects have done this effectively. As you will see, there are many resources out there that will help get your creative data visualization juices flowing!
Key Data Visualization Points
[Alberto Cairo, Introduction to Visualization (MOOC)]
Characteristics of Effective Visualizations
[Stephen Few, Data Visualization for Human Perception]
Design Process
[Alberto Cairo, Introduction to Visualization (MOOC)]
The Health COMpass Focus Package team would like to thank the following people for their review of this Focus Package and contributions to its content:
*Adapted from:
Handout from the Global Health Mini University, Love Your Data
Handout from Global Health Mini University by Naheed Ahmed - to be posted shortly on the Global Health Mini University website
This is a 2-hour online course providing an introduction to the process of data visualization. Data visualization is a process by which one can display data in a way that is relevant and interesting to an audience, as opposed to using traditional data reporting visuals.
Gapminder promotes sustainable global development and achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by increased use and understanding of statistics and other information about social, economic and environmental development at local, national and global levels.
This is a free tutorial, based on using Google spreadsheets, gadgets, and analytics, that walks the user through the basic steps of data visualization. The user is taught how to use Google docs to create a spreadsheet and a chart from the data in the spreadsheet, and then how to create an enhanced chart to illustrate the data.
This application, designed for the iPhone, and available free from iTunes, provides immediate access to key country by country
Visual.ly aims to help users create visual content that draws attention, entertains, persuades, and informs. The application's platform connects designers, journalists, animators and developers with clients, featuring cloud-based collaboration tools. The aim is to deliver high quality content quickly and efficiently.
Tableau, described as easy to use business intelligence software, is designed to help make data, spreadsheets, and charts more easily understandable to those who are not statisticians or accustomed to interpreting complex data.
Google Charts provides a way to visualize data on a website. One can use anything from simple line charts to complex hierarchical tree maps, and there is a chart gallery which provides a large number of ready-to-use chart types.
TimelineJS is an open-source tool that enables you to build visual interactive timelines and is available in 40 languages. Beginners can create a timeline using nothing more than a Google spreadsheet.
Infogr.am is a web application that allows the user to create infographics or charts by choosing a design and adding data. There are both free and (upgraded) paid versions available.
The user first chooses an infographic or chart design, then adds text, data, and other aspects to create an infographic or chart.
This is a resource and information sheet about data visualization.
It provides questions to ask about creating a visual concept, the inputs to data visualization, and suggested resources for learning about data visualization.
This mobile app from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) provides the major indicators for surveys - Demographic and Health Survey, AIDS Indicator Survey, and Malaria Indicator Survey - at your fingertips.
Included are the following features:
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent global health research center at the University of Washington (US) that provides measurement of world health problems and evaluates the strategies used to address them.
The 2013 World Population Data Sheet offers detailed information on 20 population, health, and environment indicators for more than 200 countries.
This is a timeline of the Ebola epidemic, including global milestones interspersed with the work of the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3) teams in Liberia and in the United States. With active cases in Guinea and in Sierra Leone and the return of EVD to Liberia in June, our work continues.
These infographics can be downloaded and include the following topics:
The term "RH supplies" refers to any material or consumable needed to provide reproductive health (RH) services. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to contraceptives for family planning, drugs to treat sexually transmitted infections, and equipment such as that used for safe delivery.
This is a good example of a timeline. It marks the progress of the POPLINE database, which was established in 1972. This timeline marks milestones with illustrations and explanations, all the way to the present day.
This document is an example of one of the data visualizations available from UNICEF's website www.childinfo.org, which contains UNICEF’s statistical information, including data used in UNICEF’s flagship publications, The State of the World’s Chil
The Measurement, Learning and Evaluation (MLE) Project offers this site which is a blend of data and narrative about its project work.
This website is made possible by the generous support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3) Cooperative Agreement #AID-OAA-A-12-00058. On-going support is provided by Breakthrough ACTION with support from USAID's Bureau for Global Health, under Cooperative Agreement #AID-OAA-A-17-00017. Breakthrough ACTION is based at the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP). The contents of this website are the sole responsibility of Breakthrough ACTION and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States Government, or Johns Hopkins University.