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- How was the data prepared and combined for visualization (by filtering, transforming, calculating and enriching)?
- What purpose does the visualization serve?
- Why has this type of visualization been selected?
- How have the colours, sizes and shapes in the visualization been determined?
- What software has been used and why? What computational methods does the research employ?
- Which settings and algorithms were applied?
- How have the decisions related to the above-mentioned questions highlighted or downplayed aspects of the underlying data set?
Visualization tools
- SHANTI Interactive Visualization Analytics – An HTML5-based web application that makes it easy to create elements such as data, charts, maps, images, timelines and video
- Palladio – A browser-based free tool to visualize historical data (trends, maps, networks)
- RAW Graphs – A browser based free tool to visualize various types of numerical or categorical data, with a large selection of chart types
- Google Charts and Google DataStudio – Powerful tools to visualize data from Google sheets
- Orange – Tool for visualizing data in, e.g., heat maps
- Gephi – Leading visualization and exploration software for network data. Gephi is open-source and free.
- VOSviewer – For constructing and visuaizing bibliometric networks.
NB! Many of these tools are offered for free and developed by academics with no compensation. When using these tools, make sure you add a reference to the tool if instructed (e.g., Gephi).
Small selection of materials to illustrate the possibilities of visualization:
The Data Visualizartion Catalogue has en extensive gallery of different chart types and their uses.
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Tufte, Edward (1983/2001). Visual display of quantitative information. Cheshire, CT: Graphics press. (Helka)
Critical literature on data visualization
Kennedy, H. & Engebretsen, M. (2020) (Eds.). Data Visualization in Society. Amsterdam University Press.
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