| | DECEMBER 20208CIOReviewBy Douglas Duncan, CIO, Columbia Insurance GroupLIES, DAMN LIES, AND DATA VISUALIZATION Let's be clear, there is nothing more essential for lying than the facts. If facts were indeed immutable and pristine, somehow set in stone and without nuance, the world would be a less interesting place, albeit a better one.Your truth, my truth, the objective truth....philosophers, politicians, and lawyers could talk all day about what it means, but the end result is that it, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. This is not a satisfying conclusion. One could wish human nature were different. Solipsists may have it right in that we can only know what we experience. However, my personal experience tells me that I need to make a living, and that you do too. If your living is in providing information to others in a meaningful and consumable manner, then you need to think hard about how you present that information and what version of the truth you are trying to convey.All data presented beyond a listing of the raw numbers comes in the form of visualization. Whether you present a structured table, a simple graph, a complex 3-D model or an intricate infographic, you are helping the consumer visualize the data. Every choice you make, purposefully or by accident, is important for how the data are depicted: font, color, weight, choice of graphical elements, composition, scaling, legend or accompanying text. What you do not show graphically is as critical as what you do show. Even the story behind the data is vital ­ do you buy into the data premise and origin, or do you dismiss it as hokum and highly suspicious?The advantages of providing visualizations to help understand data are undisputed. While a picture is worth a thousand words, a chart is worth even more in data points. One hundred pages of XY coordinates cannot begin to convey the elegant beauty of a map of the constellations. What rules should you follow to be sure to harness the power of the visualization but still present your version of the truth?Ask yourself four key questions when you begin to design a data visualization to make your point or share your information:1. Do the data themselves present a clear picture or is a visualization needed? If you are trying to show that the cost of IT services goes up as the number of users increases, you may not need a fancy visualization. Avoid gilding the lily and stick to listing the few relevant facts if that is the point you are trying to make. Not everything needs to be in a chart to be meaningful.IN MY OPINION
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