Data Sushi: Shimmy Shimmy Ya

In the infamous words of the late O.D.B., (I will resort only to the abbreviation since this is an “all-ages” blog) in his collaboration with Mariah Carey…

“Ooh Baby I Like It Raw”

Hold on…We’re talking about data.

Raw Data vs Cooked Data

All too often we get requests to visualize data that has exactly 1 layer of granularity…meaning we can’t drill into or interact with the data. We’re left with only a static visualization. That might have been acceptable before, when we were limited to print media and power point slide decks (even PowerPoint can include interactivity these days).

But today, in the digital age, we have the ability to explore and interact with data on the fly…changing the conversation both in media as well as the corporate meeting room. But to do this, we MUST provide the raw data! It’s one thing to generate new questions; it’s another to be able to answer them.

Last February I was blessed with the opportunity to attend Tapestry 2014 in Annapolis, MD. One of the presentations I enjoyed the most was “Jock Dreams of Data Sushi,” delivered by visualization expert Jock Mackinlay.

 Jock Dreams of Data Sushi

Data Sushi, as Jock describes it, is “a visualization that is beautiful on the outside, and contains RAW data on the inside”.

Below are the reasons Jock gives for why we should demand raw data when possible followed by the excuses we hear for not doing so:

Reasons:

1. Increases Dwell Time
2. Validate the Author / Designer / Developer
3. Encourages Conversation

Excuses:

1. People Have Cooked Data
2. Too Valuable to Share the Data
3. Hard to Share Raw Data

I encourage to you to watch Jock’s 15 minute presentation as well as to promote raw data behind your visualizations.

Cheers,

Kevin A. Taylor