Infografía

Las infografías o infográficas son representaciones gráficas visuales de la información, los datos o el conocimiento que buscan presentar una información compleja de manera rápida y clara.<ref name = "DN04">Doug Newsom and Jim Haynes (2004). Public Relations Writing: Form and Style. p.236.</ref><ref name = Ref2>Mark Smiciklas (2012). The Power of Infographics: Using Pictures to Communicate and Connect with Your Audience.</ref> Pueden mejorar la cognición a través del uso de gráficas para aumentar la capacidad del sistema visual humano de ver patrones y tendencias.<ref name = Ref3>Heer, J., Bostock, M., & Ogievetskey, V. (2010). A tour through the visualization zoo. Communications of the ACM, 53(6), 59-67.</ref><ref name = Ref4>Card, Scott (2009). Information visualization. In A. Sears & J. A. Jacko (Eds.), Human-Computer Interaction: Design Issues, Solutions, and Applications (pp. 510-543). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.</ref> El proceso de crear una infografía se conoce como visualización de datos, diseño de información o arquitectura de información, todas ramas del manejo de información.<ref name = "Ref2"/>

Generalidades

Infografías han existido durante muchos años y recientemente la proliferación de un número de herramientas de facil acceso y gratuitos que han hecho que la creación de infografías es posible para un segmento grande de la población. Sitios de medios sociales tales como Facebook y Twitter han permitido que infografías individuales se difunden entre multitudes. Las infografías son más utilizadas que nunca antes.

En los periódicos, las infografías son utilizadas más que todo mostrar el clima, también mapas, planas de sitios y gráficas para datos estadísticos. Algunos libros ahora están hechos totalmente de infografías, tales como The Way Things Work por David Macaulay. Los snapshots de USA Today son un ejemplo de infografías simples que transmiten noticias y eventos del días.<ref>USA Today Snapshots. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/snapshot.htm</ref>

Mapas modernos, particularmente mapas de rutas para sistemas de tránsito, utilizan técnicas de infografías para integrar una variedad de información, tal como el diagrama conceptual de la red de tránsito, puntos de transferencia y lugares conocidos. Los mapas de transporte público, tales como los para el Metro de Eashington y el Underground de Londres son bien reconocidos. Lugares públicos tales como terminales de tránsito usualmente tienen algún tipo de "sistema de señalamiento" con iconos estandardizados y mapas estilizados.

En su libro de 1983, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Edward Tufte define las muestras gráficas y qué deben hacer, deben:

mostrar los datos
inducir a quien lo ve a pensar sobre la sustancia en lugar de la metodología, el diseño gráfico, la tecnología de la producción gráfica u otra cosa
evitar distorcionar lo que dicen los datos
hacer grandes conjuntos de datos coherentes
animar que el ojo compare piezas distintas de datos
revelar los datos en varios niveles de detalle, desde un gran sobrevista hasta una estructura fina
sirve un propósito razonablemente claro: descripción, exploración, tabulación o decoración
estar bien integrada con descripciones estadísticas y verables del cojunto de datos.

Las gráficas revelan los datos. De hecho las gráficas pueden ser más precisas y reveladores que computaciones estadísticas convencionales.<ref>Plantilla:Cite book</ref>

Mientras que las infografías contemporaneas frecuentemente tratan de temas 'cualitativas', generalmente hablando la definición de Tufte de 1983 todavía se mantiene, en un sentido amplio, a la definición de las infografías y qué deben hacer - condensar grandes cantidades de información en un formato adonde se puede absorber más facilmente por parte del lector.

Análisis

Las tres parte de una infografía son lo visual, el contenido, y el conocimiento.<ref name = "Ref18">“The Anatomy of an Infographic: 5 Steps to Create a Powerful Visual”</ref> Lo visual consiste de colores y gráficas. Existen dos tipos de gráficas diferentes - tema y referencia. Gráficas de tema son incluidos en toda infografía y representan la representación visual subyacente de los datos. Las gráficas de referencia son generalmente iconos que se puede utilizar para apuntar a ciertos datos, aunque no son siempre presente en todas las infografías. Las estadísticas y los hechos usualmente sirven como contenido para las infografías, y pueden ser obtenidas desde muchas fuentes, incluyendo datos del censo o informes noticieros. Uno de los aspectos más claves de las infografías es que contienen alguna observación valiosa sobre los datos que presentan - este es el conocimiento.<ref name = "Ref18"/>

Las infografías son efectivas por su elemento visual. Los seres humanos reciben insumos de todos sus cinco sentidos, pero reciben más información de la visión que de las demás.<ref>David McCandless (2010). The Beauty of Data Visualization. TED Talk</ref> La mitad del cerebro humano se dedica a las funciones visuales, y los imagenes son procesados antes del texto. El cerebro procesa todos los imagenes de manera inmediata, pero procesa el texto de manera linear, esto quiere decir que toma más tiempo obtener información desde el texto.<ref name = "Ref2"/> Además, se estima que el 65 por ciento de la población son aprendices visuales (comparando con aprendices por oído o tocar), así que la naturaleza visual de la infografía llega a una porción grande de la población.<ref name = "Ref2"/> Hay procesos de negocios o industrias enteras que pueden volver relevantes a nuevas audiencias a través de una técnica de diseño que llega por el ojo.

Cuando se diseña el aspecto visual de una infografía, un número de consideraciones debe estar tomado en cuenta para poder optimizar la efectividad de la visualización. Los seis componentes del encriptación visual son espacial, marcas, conección, encierre, propiedades retinales y codificación temporal.<ref name = "Ref4"/> Cada uno de ellos puede ser utilizado en su propia manera para representar relaciones entre distintos tipos de datos. Sin embargo, los estudios han mostrado que la posición espacial es la manera más efectiva para poder representar datos numéricos y llega al entendimiento más rápida y fácil para sus visores. Each of these can be utilized in its own way to represent relationships between different types of data. However, studies have shown that spatial position is the most effective way to represent numerical data and leads to the fastest and easiest understanding by viewers.<ref name = "Ref3"/> Therefore, the designers often spatially represent the most important relationship being depicted in an infographic.

There are also three basic provisions of communication that need to be assessed when designing an infographic – appeal, comprehension, and retention.<ref name = "Ref20">Jason Lankow, Josh Ritchie, Ross Crooks (2012). Infographics: The Power of Visual Storytelling</ref> Appeal is the idea that the communication needs to engage its audience. Comprehension implies that the viewer should be able to easily understand the information that is presented to them. And finally, retention means that the viewer should remember the data presented by the infographic. The order of importance of these provisions depends on the purpose of the infographic. If the infographic is meant to convey information in an unbiased way, such as in the domains of academia or science, comprehension should be considered first, then retention, and finally appeal. However, if the infographic is being used for commercial purposes, then appeal becomes most important, followed by retention and comprehension. When infographics are being used for editorial purposes, such as in a newspaper, appeal is again most important, but is followed first by comprehension and then retention.<ref name = "Ref20"/>

When the varieties of factors listed above are taken into consideration when designing infographics, they can be a highly efficient and effective way to convey large amounts of information in a visual manner.

Data visualization

Plantilla:Main

Data visualizations are often used in infographics and may make up the entire infographic. There are many types of visualizations that can be used to represent the same set of data. Therefore it is crucial to identify the appropriate visualization for the data set and infographic by taking into consideration graphical features such as position, size, shape, and color. There are primarily five types of visualization categories – time-series data, statistical distributions, maps, hierarchies, and networking.<ref name = "Ref21">Heer, J., Bostock, M., & Ogievetsky, V. (2010). A tour through the visualization zoo. Communications of the ACM, 53(6), 59-67.</ref>

Time-series

Archivo:Processor families in TOP500 supercomputers.svg

A stacked graph showing the changing distribution of processor families in TOP500 supercomputers since 1996

Time-series data is one of the most common forms of data visualization. It documents sets of values over time. Examples of graphics in this category include index charts, stacked graphs, small multiples, and horizon graphs. Index charts are ideal to use when raw values are less important than relative changes. It is an interactive line chart that shows percentage changes for a collection of time-series data based on a selected index point. For example, stock investors could use this because they are less concerned with the specific price and more concerned with the rate of growth. Stacked graphs are area charts that are stacked on top of each other, and depict aggregate patterns. They allow viewers to see overall patterns and individual patterns. However, they do not support negative numbers and make it difficult to accurately interpret trends. An alternative to stacked graphs is small multiples. Instead of stacking each area chart, each series is individually shown so the overall trends of each sector are more easily interpreted. Horizon graphs are a space efficient method to increase the data density of a time-series while preserving resolution.<ref name = "Ref21"/>

Statistical

Statistical distributions reveal trends based on how numbers are distributed. Common examples include histograms and box-and-whisker plots, which convey statistical features such as mean, median, and outliers. In addition to these common infographics, alternatives include stem-and-leaf plots, Q-Q plots, scatter plot matrices (SPLOM) and parallel coordinates. For assessing a collection of numbers and focusing on frequency distribution, stem-and-leaf plots can be helpful. The numbers are binned based on the first significant digit, and within each stack binned again based on the second significant digit. On the other hand, Q-Q plots compare two probability distributions by graphing quantiles against each other. This allows the viewer to see if the plot values are similar and if the two are linearly related. SPLOM is a technique that represents the relationships among multiple variables. It uses multiple scatter plots to represent a pairwise relation among variables. Another statistical distribution approach to visualize multivariate data is parallel coordinates. Rather than graphing every pair of variables in two dimensions, the data is repeatedly plotted on a parallel axis and corresponding points are then connected with a line. The advantage of parallel coordinates is that they are relatively compact, allowing many variables to be shown simultaneously.<ref name = "Ref21"/>

Archivo:Final 2008 electoral cartogram.png

A cartogram showing the final electoral results of the 2008 US presidential election

Maps

Maps are a natural way to represent geographical data. Time and space can be depicted through the use of flow maps. Line strokes are used with various widths and colors to help encode information. Choropleth maps, which encode data through color and geographical region, are also commonly used. Graduated symbol maps are another method to represent geographical data. They are an alternative to choropleth map and use symbols, such as pie charts for each area, over a map. This map allows for more dimensions to be represented using various shapes, size, and color. Cartograms, on the other hand, completely distort the shape of a region and directly encode a data variable. Instead of using a geographic map, regions are redrawn proportionally to the data. For example, each region can be represented by a circle and the size/color is directly proportional to other information, such as population size.<ref name = "Ref21"/>

Hierarchies

Archivo:Uganda Export Treemap.png

A treemap showing the exports of Uganda

Many data sets, such as spatial entities of countries or common structures for governments, can be organized into natural hierarchies. Node-link diagrams, adjacency diagrams, and enclosure diagrams are all types of infographics that effectively communicate hierarchical data. Node-link diagrams are a popular method due to the tidy and space-efficient results. A node-link diagram is similar to a tree, where each node branches off into multiple sub-sections. An alternative is adjacency diagrams, which is a space-filling variant of the node-link diagram. Instead of drawing a link between hierarchies, nodes are drawn as solid areas with sub-sections inside of each section. This method allows for size to be easily represented than in the node-link diagrams. Enclosure diagrams are also a space-filling visualization method. However, they uses containment rather than adjacency to represent the hierarchy. Similar to the adjacency diagram, the size of the node is easily represented in this model.<ref name = "Ref21"/>

Archivo:Farey diagram horizontal arc.png

Arc diagram representing the mathematical Farey sequence

Networks

Network visualization explores relationships, such as friendships and cliques. Three common types are force-directed layout, arc diagrams, and matrix view. Force-directed layouts are a common and intuitive approach to network layout. In this system, nodes are similar to charged particles, which repel each other. Links are used to pull related nodes together. Arc diagrams are one-dimensional layouts of nodes with circular arcs linking each node. When used properly, with good order in nodes, cliques and bridges are easily identified in this layout. Alternatively, mathematicians and computer scientists more often use matrix views. Each value has an (x,y) value in the matrix that corresponds to a node. By using color and saturation instead of text, values associated with the links can be perceived rapidly. While this method makes it hard to view the path of the nodes, there are no line crossings, which in a large and highly connected network can quickly become too cluttered.<ref name = "Ref21"/>

While all of these visualizations can be effectively used on their own, many modern infographics combine multiple types into one graphic, along with other features, such as illustrations and text. Some modern infographics do not even contain data visualization, and instead are simply a colorful and succinct ways to present knowledge. Fifty-three percent of the 30 most-viewed infographics on the infographic sharing site visual.ly did not contain actual data.<ref>Van Slembrouck, Paul, “Analyzing the Top 30 Infographics on Visually”, June 2012. [1]</ref>

Tools

Infographics can be created by hand using simple everyday tools such as graph paper, pencils, markers, and rulers. However, today they are more often created using computer software, which is often both faster and easier. They can be created with general illustration software, such as Adobe Illustrator or the open-source Inkscape. There are also a number of specialized websites and tools like Visually that can be used to construct infographics.

Diagrams can be manually created and drawn using software like Creately, Gliffy and Lucidchart, which can be downloaded for the desktop or used online. It also includes a number of templates to get users started on their diagrams. Additionally, it allows users to collaborate on diagrams in real time over the Internet. All of the services above have a free option but can be upgraded for more feature rich experience.

As the search volume for infographics has increased by 800% from 2010-2012, infographics have become a critical tool for traffic acquisition and client education for many companies. While Gliffy offers an open platform, other tools such as Piktochart, are known for providing a platform with templates, icons, and readymade designs structured in a format that is more attuned to the conventions of internet publishers—for example most publishers expect infographics to be 600 pixels wide, to feature highly stylized fonts and images etc. Piktochart also publishes infographics in an HTML format which makes their infographics readable by search engines—a feature that had previously been expensive, requiring the intervention of a developer to achieve.

Tableau Public is a downloadable program that automatically parses datasets when users upload them. It then suggests visualizations of the data and allows the user to customize the infographic using a simple drag-and-drop interface. Users may also simultaneously make a number of infographics using different parts of the same dataset. It provides users with HTML of their infographic so that they can share it on the web.

ManyEyes is a project by IBM that allows users to create visualizations from either their own or other users’ uploaded datasets. They can then share their visualizations with all the other users, who can comment on and modify the visualization. It is meant as a sharing and collaboration platform for infographics, allowing them to change over time based on input from numerous people.

A wealth of global data from sources such as the OECD and World Bank are built into the website and desktop program Gapminder. Users can view and customize infographics of world data such as birth rates and GDP. It was built on a platform called Trendalyzer, which was sold to Google in 2007.<ref>Rosmarin, Rachel, “Google Buys Data Visualization Software”, Forbes.com, March 16, 2007. [2]</ref> This explains some of the similarities between Gapminder and Google Public Data Explorer, which is a large online repository of publicly available data from resources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, the World Resources Institute, and Eurostat. Users can also upload their own datasets. Users can select specific data from a set, and the site will create visualizations of the data in the form of different graphs, such as bar and line graphs. There are a number of options for users to tailor the visualization by changing the scale, axes, and other variables.

There are also numerous tools to create very specific types of visualizations. The Photo Stats App and InFoto can be used to create a visualization based on embedded data in the photos on a user’s smartphone. Users can create an infographic of their resume using visualize.me or a “picture of their digital life” using Intel’s "What About Me?" The site Wordle allows users to provide text and create word clouds from it.

References

External links

Milestones in the History of Thematic Cartography, Statistical Graphics and Data Visualization
Periodic Table of Visualization Methods
Society for Newsdesign
Numbers that Paint the Picture, November 4, 2013, Jer Thorp, National Geographic

Plantilla:Visualization

uk:Інфографіка