This morning, we were sitting quietly in the dining room, having a relatively light breakfast, and talking about visualization and information. I have been thinking, without much effect, about this lately. I am now responsible for the creation of a report that's presented electronically once a month. The report is very stark -- these many problem records, details about each of them , all presented in a chart. Three charts in all, followed by a very basic graph. I despise it. I think it's a poor job, and would be a poor job if it were being done by a secondary school student (for someone younger, it might be pretty good); for an information company, its ludicrous. Hence, my desire to do it better. Well, honesty compels me to point out that I also want to do it better because I'm a little bit creative, and this makes it possible for me to show off, just a little.
I told my wife about Edward Tufte's The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, and specifically about a chart that's used as an example for the book. The chart shows the progress of Napoleon's armies as he attempted to conquer Russia. The chart is distance from France along the bottom, years along the left side, and the line looks like a flattened backward capital C. But here's the magic: the thickness of the line shows the available number of French troops as time progressed and as they distanced themselves from France. The line is thick at T=0 and D=0, and gets thinner as time and distance increase. On the way back from Moscow, the line, formerly thick and substantial, is now thin and wavering. Its excellent.
Now, how can I emulate that?
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