Chartjunk or Communication?

EagerEyes recently posted about a study investigation the memorability of graphics and data. That brings to mind my earlier thoughts about communication. You may have the best data in the world but if it's not communicated well, then you've missed the target. I suppose which path you take depends on your audience.

When you're presenting to an audience of a similar backround or perhaps more knowledgeable about that data than yourself, minimize chartjunk and seek to present the data in as unbiased a manner as possible.

When you're the expert and are seeking to communicate the results of your interpretation, resist the "curse of knowledge" and incorporate some of the suggestions from Made to Stick to increase the memorability of the results and analysis. A perfect data presentation following Tufte's guidance may not be the optimal solution.

Expanding your Skills

I haven't posted much this year. My excuse is that I've been spending time learning PHP and Python programming. In the case of PHP It seems I don't have an immediate need for that knowledge but since it is commonly used to control many websites it seemed prudent to at least get a basic knowledge of that language.

A knowledge of Python has been more useful. I expect that Python aficionados will give many reasons to use that language, but I've found it useful for processing text files generated by our lab equipment to create summaries so they can be processed by our software to input data in a LIMS.

Don't be stagnant in your skills but continue to explore new areas. Some may not be immediately useful (like PHP in my case) and others will be. However, without exploring something new, you'll never be open to the possibilities that the new skill may present. Don't get stuck being happy with the status quo because you don't know what else is possible because your skills remain focused in a narrow area.

Imagination

I haven't posted in some time. It's probably a lack of imagination.

Why is it that some people are content to do the same job, the same way over and over. I don't think it's that they're lazy. In most cases what they are doing is labor intensive. They might be very proficient and fast at what they do.

I think it's a lack of imagination. They can't imagine doing it a different way. Not automated, not faster, not different. Just doing it.

I follow a couple of blogs on Excel. The posts are mostly about customizing and automating so one can do things faster, and exactly the way you want them to be instead of relying on what the programmers envisioned. The desire to do things differently requires imagination about the way you want things to be.

Work on your imagination and who knows where it will lead.

Fail=Success

Sorry for re-posting but not only does this post have good advice but I've recently come across the Lifehacker website. If you use computers (and what scientist or engineer doesn't), Lifehacker has many great tips, links to make your computing life easier. They are scouring the web so you don't have to.

Databases

Some of my earlier posts have had to do with information (or data) visualization. Before you can visualize data, it must be readily available. In today's age of computers, your data is certainly electronic but if it is spread across multiple servers, directories, and files it is unmanageable and not available. This is where relational databases come in.

If your data is in a well-designed relational database, you can access it in a variety of ways. Most data analysis software (e.g. Excel, MiniTab, Origin, Quality Analyst are a few that I've used) has wizards that make it easy to develop SQL queries to retrieve data. With a minimal knowledge of SQL you can modify the wizard queries to make them even more powerful. The important part is to have your data in a database to begin with. While a LIMS or another database may seem like an expensive investment, it will pay off in the long run by giving you many opportunities to examine your data and find answers to your problems in data you have already gathered rather than having to design new experiments.

In today's age of tight budgets, many companies want concrete justification for purchase and use of a database. The problem is that a database will help you solve problems that you haven't even imagined yet and so it is hard to provide evidence of the "hard" savings that a database will provide.

Anybody with an eye towards the future (not just the next 3 months) should have a relational database for storing their data and begin inserting data immediately. Without data in your database, it will be useless.

Know your data

Often we gather data to aid in solving a problem we encounter. One trap that you can fall into is that the data is not exactly what you think it is. For example, you might be taking pressure readings from a process line to decide whether a filter is plugged. The pressure readings may be normal leading you to believe that the filter is not plugged and in satisfactory condition. However, if the pressure gauge is upstream of the filter, then the data is misleading you. The filter may be plugged but the pressure gauge location is misleading you.

This is particularly a problem if you don't have good change control on your equipment. The diagram you are working on may not reflect reality. It is always a good idea to go look at what you're working on, both the help you visualize the process and to make sure things are as you think they are. The biggest danger to problem solving is thinking you can sit back in your office and just think through the problem.

Active Exploration

When I was in school I was listening to a talk about a topic (or so I thought) unrelated to my research. The speaker mentioned in passing that they were adding hydrogen to the helium microwave plasma. That caught my attention as I realized that it may be suitable for the problems I was having getting my project on RF ICPs to work. With a little bit of literature searching I was able to find much work from the light bulb industry that addressed the problem that I was having. Imagine my surprise that my "research" problem had already been encountered (in a somewhat different form) in another industry.

You should always be aware of potential solutions to problems you might encounter in unexpected places. In "Made to Stick" the authors talk about the power of spotting a good story that supports what you want to communicate. Unless you are actively looking for such an story, you may miss it when you come across it. Likewise problem solutions may elude you unless you have the problem(s) in mind and you are actively looking for solutions.

Don't neglect this key ingredient of problem solving.