The following data visualisations are proffered for critique. They come from a variety of sources and change occassionally, but most are from the Information is Beautiful Award Site.

When exploring these, here are some questions you might ask*:

1. Do you like this visualisation?
2. How can it be improved?
3. Is the source of the data named?
4. If so, do you consider the source trustworthy or unbiased?
5. Can you access the source data in its original setting, including footnotes/methodology?
6. Can you tell if the sample sizes are sufficiently large to support the arguments conveyed by the visualisation?
7. If international comparisons are made, can I be sure that each country collects this data in the same way? (Eurostat notoriously problematic for this)
8. If multiple sources are used, and direct comparisons are made between data from different sources, are these legitimate?
9. Has the visualisation been over-designed relative to its message? (infographic-style emphasis on colours and shapes despite small quantity of data)
10. Does the visualisation show the Data?
11. Does the visualisation provoke thought about the subject at hand?
12. Is the data distorted in any way?
13. How densely presented in data in the visualisation?
14. Are you engaged and encouraged to compare data?
15. If it’s interactive does it reveal data at different levels of detail?
16. Can you determine the purpose of the visualisation?

Samples

1. A World of Languages?
2. Nobels, No Degrees
3. The Thor-y of Everything
4. Anatomy of the Lismore Disaster
5. Sony Records – Reimagining the Gold/Platinum Record
6. Why Resign from the Bundestag?
7. Where Can You Afford a House?
8. Simulated Dendrochronology of U.S. Immigration 1790-2016

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*Questions 3-9 from John Burns Murdoch, questions 10-16 from Edward Tufte.