Table Of ContentBig Data in Small Slices:
Data Visualization for
Communicators
This book offers an engaging and accessible introduction to data visualization
for communicators, covering everything from data collection and analysis to the
creation of effective data visuals.
Straying from the typical “how to visualize data” genre often written for
technical audiences, Big Data in Small Slices offers those new to data gathering
and visualization the opportunity to better understand data itself. Using the con-
cept of the “data backstory,” each chapter features discussions with experts,
from marine scientists to pediatricians and city government officials, who
produce datasets in their daily work. The reader is guided through the process of
designing effective visualizations based on their data, delving into how datasets
are produced and vetted, and how to assess their weaknesses and strengths,
ultimately offering readers the knowledge needed to produce their own effective
data visuals.
This book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in data visualiza-
tion and storytelling, from journalism and communications students to public
relations professionals.
A detailed accompanying website features additional material for
readers, including links to all the original datasets used in the text, at www.
bigdatainsmallslices.com
Dianne M. Finch- Claydon conducts data analysis and visualization workshops
around the world and consults to clients on visualization projects. Publications
include a chapter on data in The Golden Age of Data edited by Don Grady
(Routledge, 2020) as well as stories produced for public radio, Bloomberg, and
other news outlets on science and finance.
“Dianne combines deep expertise in computer science with her years as a jour-
nalist to write a compelling book about using data to tell stories. Written in a
journalistic style (i.e. interesting and fun), she walks readers through the oppor-
tunities and challenges of big data sets. The book and accompanying website
encourage readers to dig into the data and get their hands dirty, and help them
feel safe and confident to experiment.”
— Karen Weintraub, Journalist at USA Today
“We live in an era when vast amounts of data are at journalists’ fingertips, pro-
viding new opportunities for reporting and investigating. But making sense of
that flood of data and communicating it to a general audience requires training.
Dianne Finch’s book provides a detailed, yet easy-to-use, guide for data visualiza-
tion, and will be an excellent resource for both journalism teachers and students.”
— Sharon Weinberger, author of The Imagineers of War:
The Untold Story of DARPA, the Pentagon Agency
That Changed the World
“This book will be an essential tool in training the future generation of
communicators, including both journalists and scientists struggling to build their
research programs in an impossibly vast sea of data.”
— Tim Ford, Professor and Chair of Biomedical and
Nutritional Sciences, UMass Lowell
“Life isn’t easily categorized, and Dianne Finch’s work on data visualization makes
that abundantly clear. In the chapter on malaria, Dianne compellingly shows how
charts and maps can guide a journalist to ask informed questions. She goes
beyond parasites, insect vectors, and drugs used to treat the disease to illustrate
the issues that seem unrelated to health at first glance but dramatically impact
the delivery of help desperately needed. This guide to best practices in data visu-
alization will help you tame the ominous-sounding Big Data — in small slices.”
— Jeff Porter, Missouri School of Journalism
Big Data in Small Slices:
Data Visualization for
Communicators
Dianne M. Finch- Claydon
First published 2021
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Taylor & Francis
The right of Dianne M. Finch-C laydon to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known
or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Finch-Claydon, Dianne M., author.
Title: Big data in small slices : data visualization
for communicators / Dianne M. Finch-Claydon.
Description: London ; New York : Routledge, 2021. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020034065 | ISBN 9781138910911 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781138910904 (paperback) | ISBN 9781315693118 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Visual communication. | Information visualization.
Classification: LCC P93.5 F56 2021 | DDC 001.4/226–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020034065
ISBN: 9781138910911 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781138910904 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781315693118 (ebk)
Typeset in Univers
by Newgen Publishing UK
Access the companion website: www.bigdatainsmallslices.com
Contents
Foreword ix
Introduction 1
Big Data 1
Book Structure 2
1 The Canary in the Coal Mine 5
Surfing Into Science 8
Carbon Dioxide (CO) 10
2
CO and pH 13
2
The Lives of Corals 14
Corals Are Animals 17
Broadcast Mating 19
Symbionts 21
Threats Beyond Losing Reef Habitat 25
Bleaching 27
Ocean Acidification 29
Why It Matters Economically 31
Economics—TEEB 32
Two Hundred Days on Heron 32
The Free Ocean CO Enrichment System (FOCE) 34
2
Predictions for 2100 35
FOCE Setup and Challenges 36
The Reef Gets a Physical 39
Cleaning, Wrangling, and Munging Datasets 41
Visual Exploration 43
Dimension Ranges 43
Carbon Dioxide (CO) 44
2
pH Range 44
Aragonite Saturation (Ar) 44
Date and Time 44
Graphing for Patterns 44
CO Pattern 44
2
pH Pattern 45
v h
j Contents
Correlation 46
CO and pH Correlation 47
2
Aragonite and Correlation 47
Corals Fight Back 48
Your Reef on Acid 54
Data Visualization 56
Story Thoughts for Journalism Students 59
2 Sea of Butterflies 61
Some Damage Is Done 64
The Ocean Acidification Study 65
Shell Quality 68
Data Exploration 70
Shell Quality Data Exploration 71
Exploring Visually 74
Chart Structures 74
Sinking Speeds 79
Data Cleaning 81
Data Visualization 83
Story Thoughts for Journalism Students 85
3 Parasites and Armed Rebels 87
Mac Otten 87
Malaria and Its Vector Agent 90
The Mosquito as Vector 92
Rebel Eruption and Roaming Health-C are Facilities 93
The Project 95
Process 97
Trucks, Roads, and Rebels 99
The Data 102
Data Exploration 103
The Spreadsheets 104
Data Enhancement Using Code 106
Data Visualization 109
Medicines, Mosquito Nets, and Diagnostic Tests 110
Mosquito Nets 112
Project End 114
Story Thoughts for Journalism Students 115
4 Open City, Open Data 116
From Dublin to Silicon Valley 116
Interview 120
vi h
Contents j
City Hall 121
Stereotypes Are Just Stereotypes 122
Public Data Acquisition 122
Open Data 125
Data Exploration and Cleaning 125
Data Visualization 127
Responsive Design 128
Trees, Trees, and More Trees 130
Cleaning Trees 132
Palo Alto Open Data Portal 133
Story Thoughts for Journalism Students 134
Index 138
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Foreword
For those of us old enough to remember data collection by sensors connected to
chart recorders—a nd the hours spent with a ruler calculating data points—t oday’s
age of big data seems overwhelming. Dianne Finch-Claydon does an outstanding
job of “slicing big data.” The first message that comes clearly across is that there’s
nothing special about “big data”—i t is still data—b ut there’s just so much more of
it with real-t ime, continuous data collection through sensor arrays capturing mul-
tiple parameters. As the author points out, the sheer volume of data has resulted
in new sophisticated methodologies and algorithms to help us analyze the
information—j ust as the field of bio-i nformatics has arisen to analyze molecular
data. This information overload can be deadening—t o both the scientist and non-
scientist alike—b ut in Chapter 1 Finch-Claydon has artfully woven a fascinating
picture of the intricacies of the coral reef environment to help us find meaning in
just one slice—d ata generated on Heron Island’s fragile reef system. Through rela-
tively simple methods of data visualization and interpretation, Finch-Claydon helps
us understand how this not only informs the scientists about the chemical and
climatological processes that are destroying these ecological wonders— critical
marine communities for both ecosystem and human health— but also how to
articulate this “slice” of big data to better inform the public and policy makers of
the urgency to mitigate the destruction we are causing through human activity.
Written in a highly engaging manner, Dianne Finch-Claydon has produced
a beautiful educational book that links stunning photographs of endangered
reefs with the data that we can use to both understand the processes that are
happening and begin to mitigate the shocking consequences of our own devel-
opment and industrialization. Linked to a number of web-b ased resources that
explore data visualization and interpretation in greater depth, this book will be
an essential tool in training the future generation of communicators, including
both journalists and scientists struggling to build their research programs in an
impossibly vast sea of data!
Tim Ford
Professor and Chair, Environmental Health Sciences
Director, Institute for Global Health
UMass Amherst
From Sept 1:
Professor and Chair
Biomedical and Nutritional Sciences
UMass Lowell
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