Reviewing the Situation

It's been a while since we formulated the Trend Visualization Principles displayed in our blog's right hand panel. So we thought it was a good time to revisit them and update them to reflect both on what we have learned and on the rapid pace of change in the intersecting domains of data gathering, analysis, visualization, story telling, sharing, and collaboration.

Our revised seven principles are:

1. Context comes first
2. Create a history
3. Look at ALL the data
4. Share ALL your data
5. Explain your calculations
6. Show your thinking
7. Insure readability

Please check out the full statement in the right hand panel and let us know what you think.

These principles when put into practice can serve as antidotes to some of the weaknesses highlighted in the most recent post. (Common Weaknesses in Online Visualization & Storytelling)

We plan on posting some longer explanations of our thinking on these principles in coming days starting with two that are oft neglected in practice (self included) . Our experience has been that these two can reap substantial rewards when we make the time, when we take the time to remember to put them into action

• Look at ALL the data
• Show your thinking

What are your most useful principles that you keep in mind while gathering analyzing, visualizing, story telling, sharing, and collaborating about important trend data?