Understanding The “Why” of Data Visualization

Check out this post from Andy Cotgreave at Computerworld. His post has some very interesting points on what data visualization is all about and how we really use it.  I especially liked the comments on dashboards.  The content will definitely make you rethink the way you evaluate presented data.

Why do we visualize data?

Why do we visualize data? Do data visualizations aim to inform audiences effectively? Or do they simply aim to catch people’s eye, providing the just gist of the data? This is a question which has been hotly debated by some of the leading authors in the field of data visualization recently.