Dear Data Was The Inspiration For The Travel Correspondence Blog Between Me And Another Traveler

Index

Dear Data

Inspiration Dear Data Turned In Blog Correspondence

Correspondence Communication

Data Viz Is Nothing Without Words

Related blogs on my website

Dear Data

'Dear Data' was a very creative Viz project from two Data Viz Specialists. I like how they turned their daily life into Viz. Each week for 52 weeks they took a topic and visualized that on a postcard which they send to each other. Of course there was a legend to explain the Viz. The postcards were sometimes more artwork than Viz. After the 52 weeks they turned the project in a book explaining how they designed their Viz. The book came with an exercise book with which I could try to make my own Viz with the topics they set out. It is small data that was turned into Data Viz.

Inspiration Dear Data Turned In Blog Correspondence

In 2013 I was planning my travels after coming back from Cuba. When my plans got shape I talked about my plans with the Travel blogger of 'My Adventures Across The World'. I met her and her sister in Cuba and we had cocktails and dinner together in Baracoa. It inspired her and she was on her way to travel South America after her career in law. She and me wanted to keep in touch on opposite site of the world by a blogging correspondence. In November 2013 we started a blogging correspondence in English. It was fun trying to react on what was happing on the other side of the world in the blog correspondence. My part of the correspondence blogs are still on my website, but are improved blogs. The blog 'Pearls I Met' is one of them.

Correspondence Communication

What I learned from both project (the correspondence blog and 'Dear Data') is that blogging is a great communication style, and I can highlight one thing that is happening and emphasize that. The same goes for the Data Viz from the 'Dear Data' projects, but with Data Viz there is a legend to guide people in what I am telling them. With Data Viz there is less room for the reader to make their own interpretation compared to a blog. Blogs are like books it gives the reader room to fantasize and have own interpretation. Maybe in a blog more than in a book, because a blog uses less words than a book.

Data Viz Is Nothing Without Words

Sometimes I stare at the Data Viz on the postcards and think they look beautiful but what does it mean? The legend and blog accompanied by the Data Viz give the complete story. Data Viz without a legend is art without meaning. Which gives the freedom in interpretation like with books and blogs, but it can be a crime in giving the reader the truth that is in data. My advice don’t make Data Viz without a legend. With a legend the data used is interpreted the right way.