Presentation and Visualization Methods

A visualization method is a systematic, rule based, external, permanent and graphical representation that depicts information in a way that is conducive to acquiring insights, developing an elaborate understanding or communicating experiences. The discipline of visualization is an emergent one and currently represents a highly unstructured domain of research. A research paper recently presented provides a simple structure inspired by the look, feel and logic of the periodic table that provides a descriptive over view over the domain and can function as the inventory or repository like a structure tool box. In order to be a successful communicator not only needs to convey the message but also tailor it according to the recipient. The recipient should be able to understand the knowledge and be able to use it for meaningful actions.

The methodology can be divided into 3 steps.

1.       Identify potential candidates for visualization

2.       Selecting the methods best suited for the job.

3.       Logical and accessible compilation of selected methods.

The visualization methods can be further classified based on the challenges and requirements as follows.

1.       Complexity of visualization

2.       Main application or content area

3.       Details, overview or detail and overview

4.       Reducing complexity of increasing it

5.       Process and structure

Source: http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html

A data visualization should not only be precise, versatile, aesthetically pleasing but also effective and efficient.

Healthcare

The healthcare industry might not be considered one which would make use of a lot of visualization but with the changing dynamics of the industry the demand for visualization is on the rise. Health care facility managers have to constantly keep a track on the various types of patients being treated in order to better manage their facility and provide superior service. In cases where it is important to highlight the majority share belonging to a particular type of patients a pie chart is the most effective visualization method. Similarly researchers focusing on various health care topics feel the need to present the finding in case of numerical data using a visualization method.

Education

Similar to the healthcare domain, visualization in the education domain also vary according to the purpose and the kind of data. While presenting the distribution of students across various grades can be best represented as a heat map a bar chart can be used to show increasing trends of costs as well as student engagement.

Financial Services

Managers working in the financial services domain often use visualization to present data related to assets, liabilities or trends in the Forex and other factors. Depending on the kind of data that is being presented a manager could effectively use something as simple as pivot table when trying to present the banks status over various parameters such as account, location, customer type etc. In certain cases when the manager aim to present trends of how value of a particular stock has varied over time a trend line is more appropriate to represent such data.

In conclusion various visualization methods help effectively present data and certain guidelines help making a better decision at choosing them however no particular method can be associated only to a particular industry.