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Text of the page (random words):
data display is a noun accompanied by a number for example a medical patient s current level of glucose is reported in a clinical record as a word and number placed in the relevant context a single number gains meaning thus the most recent measurement of glucose should be compared with earlier measurements for the patient this data line shows the path of the last 80 readings of glucose lacking a scale of measurement this free floating line is dequantified at least we do know the value of the line s right most data point which corresponds to the most recent value of glucose the number recorded at far right both representations of the most recent reading are tied together with a color accent some useful context is provided by showing the normal range of glucose here as a gray band compared to normal limits readings above the band horizon are elevated those below reduced for clinical analysis the task is to detect quickly and assess wayward deviations from normal limits shown here by visual deviations outside the gray band multiplying this format brings in additional data from the medical record a stack which can show hundreds of variables and thousands of measurements allows fast effective parallel comparisons these little data lines because of their active quality over time are named sparklines small high resolution graphics usually embedded in a full context of words numbers images sparklines are datawords data intense design simple word sized graphics sparklines and sparkline like graphs can also move within complex multivariate spaces as in these 9 step sequential results reading down the columns in merge sorting 5 different types of input files four variables and 18 000 numbers are depicted in these small multiples below robert sedgewick algorithms in c reading massachusetts 1998 353 sparklines have obvious applications for financial and economic data by tracking and comparing changes over time by showing overall trend along with local detail embedded in a data table this sparkline depicts an exchange rate dollar cost of one euro for every day for one year colors help link the sparkline with the numbers red the oldest and newest rates in the series blue yearly low and high for daily exchange rates extending this graphic table is straightforward here the price of the euro versus 3 other currencies for 65 months and for 12 months daily sparkline data can be standardized and scaled in all sorts of ways depending on the content by the range of the price inflation adjusted price percent change percent change off of a market baseline thus multiple sparklines can describe the same noun just as multiple columns of numbers report various measures of performance these sparklines reveal the details of the most recent 12 months in the context of a 65 month daily sequence shown in the fractal like structure below consuming a horizontal length of only 14 letterspaces each sparkline in the big table above provides a look at the price and the changes in price for every day for years and the overall time pattern this financial table reports 24 numbers accurate to 5 significant digits the accompanying sparklines show about 14 000 numbers readable from 1 to 2 significant digits the idea is to be approximately right rather than exactly wrong by showing recent change in relation to many past changes sparklines provide a context for nuanced analysis and one hopes better decisions moreover the year long daily history reduces recency bias the persistent and widespread over weighting of recent events in making decisions tables sometimes reinforce recency bias by showing only current levels or recent changes sparklines improve the attention span of tables tables of numbers attain maximum densities of only 300 characters per square inch or 50 characters per square centimeter in contrast graphical displays have far greater resolutions a cartographer notes the resolving power of the eye enables it to differentiate to 0 1 mm where provoked to do so 2 distinctions at 0 1 mm mean 250 per linear inch which implies 60 000 per square inch or 10 000 per square centimeter which is plenty on being approximately right rather than exactly wrong see john w tukey the technical tools of statistics american statistician 19 1965 23 28 d p bickmore the relevance of cartography in j c davis and m j mccullagh eds display and analysis of spatial data london 1975 331 here is a conventional financial table comparing various return rates of 10 popular mutual funds 3 this is a common display in data analysis a list of nouns mutual funds for example along with some numbers assets changes that accompany the nouns the analyst s job is to look over the data matrix and then decide whether or not to go crazy or at least to make a decision buy sell hold about the noun based on the data but along with the summary clumps of tabular data let us also look at the day to day path of prices and their changes for the entire last year here is the sparkline table in our redesigned table the typeface gill sans does quite well compared to the helvetica in the original times table smaller than the helvetica the gill sans appears sturdier and more readable in part because of the increased white space that results from its smaller x height and reduced size the data area without column labels for our sparkline table is only 21 larger than the original s data area and yet the sparklines provide an approximate look at 5 000 more numbers astonishing and disconcerting the finely detailed similarities of these daily sparkline histories are not all that surprising after the fact anyway several funds use market index tracking or other copycat strategies and all the funds are driven daily by the same amalgam of external forces news fads economic policies panics bubbles of the 10 funds only the unfortunately named pimco the sole bond fund in the table diverges from the common pattern of the 9 stock funds as seen by comparing pimco s sparkline with the stacked pile of 9 other sparklines below in newspaper financial tables down the deep columns of numbers sparklines can be added to tables set at 8 lines per inch as in our example above this yields about 160 sparklines per column or 400 000 additional daily graphical prices and their changes per 5 column financial page readers can scan the sparkline tables making simultaneous multiple comparisons searching for nonrandom patterns in the random walks of prices favorite funds the new york times august 10 2003 p 3 1 finally the practical construction of sparklines requires thinking about their design and production aspect ratio a graphic s width height ratio makes a big difference in displaying data for all types of statistical graphics the data shape varies as the aspect ratio varies below for 6 sparklines all showing the same data note the substantial changes in shape as the y scale increases by 25 for each line while the x scale is held constant how should a sparkline aspect ratio be chosen like a narrow ribbon sparklines have one long dimension and one short as their wordlike shapes constrain their aspect ratios this financial sparkline is 5 to 1 the full baseball season is 20 to 1 and dna chromosome sparklines run about 300 to 1 in general statistical graphics should be moderately greater in length than in height and as william cleveland discovered for judging slopes and velocities up and down the hills in time series best is an aspect ratio that yields hill slopes averaging 45 176 over every cycle in the time series variations in slopes are best detected when the slopes are around 45 176 uphill or downhill 5 to put this idea informally aspect ratios should be such that time series graphics tend toward a lumpy profile below left rather than a spiky profile below right or a flat profile both graphs here show the same data the aspect ratio for this lumpy graphic is chosen in accord with the 45 176 rule the lumpy graphic reveals that sunspot cycles tend to rise rapidly and decline slowly a behavior strongest for cycles with high sharp peaks less strong for medium peaks and absent for cycles with small low peaks none of this is visible in the graph of spikes cleveland s idea is essential for sparkline displays of high resolution time series such as in acoustics medicine science engineering finance for multiple sparklines as in the mutual fund data below a global aspect ratio is obtained by averaging over the relevant data lines to yield an overall lumpy quality these considerations yield practical advice for choosing aspect ratios for sparklines use the maximum reasonable vertical space available under the word like constraint then adjust the horizontal stretch of the time scale to meet the lumpy criterion occasionally the analytical task or character of the data may suggest a better alternative 5 william s cleveland visualizing data summit new jersey 1993 87 91 218 227 william s cleveland the elements of graphing data summit new jersey revised edition 1994 66 79 unintentional optical clutter above left these binary outcome sparklines mainly show accidental arrangements of white space rather than binary outcomes then above right a less cluttered version of the same data closely spaced lines produce moiré vibration usually at its worst when data lines the figure and spaces the ground between data lines are approximately equal in size and also when figure and ground contrast strongly in color value the result is hyperactive optical clutter for example below in contrast note the serene and cleanly differentiated lines on this spring s new bamboo culm to the right changing the relative weight of the data lines and also muting the contrast between data and background reduces optical noise as these before after designs of sparklines suggest the standard method for printing color 4 color process sometimes produces unintentional noise when printing finely detailed material such as type and sparklines in 4 color printing cyan magenta yellow black tiny dots of color mix together to make the desired color for example cyan dots yellow dots apparent green these color dots do not align perfectly and both type and thin lines can become gritty when printed by conventional 4 color process shown below high quality maps avoid color dot combinations as a close look at the swiss mountain map will indicate sparklines should be printed in a single color or by a judicious mix of 2 colors magenta yellow red or in flat color the ink itself is the desired color or by stochastic color methods areas surrounding data lines may generate unintentional optical clutter strong frames produce melodramatic but content diminishing visual effects at left the dominant visual elements are of all things the strong stripes of the negative spaces between the heavy frames a good way to assess a display for unintentional optical clutter is to ask do the prominent visual effects convey relevant content in the exhibits above earning the unfortunate x the most prominent visual effect is usually the clutter produced by activated negative space resolution of sparklines sparklines work at intense resolutions at the level of good typography and cartography currently such intensities can be found only on paper film and metal where resolutions 1 200 dpi are easily and inexpensively achieved today s computer monitors operate at about 10 of paper s resolution producing coarse typography in the smaller point sizes as well as sparklines lacking in fine detail of course sparklines can be displayed on computer screens but for serious work sparklines should be printed on paper combining paper s resolution with the computer screen s interactivity is often effective resolution of layouts of multiple sparklines for monitoring processes that produce lots of data financial trading sporting events control rooms scientific and medical analysis system administration sparklines should be printed and viewed at a density of 500 sparklines on a3 size paper about 25 x 45 cm or 11 x 17 in this is the data equivalent of about 15 large computer screens or 300 powerpoint slides unlike relentlessly sequential screens and slides 500 sparklines on a large piece of paper are adjacent in space rather than stacked in time by showing vast amounts of data within the eyespan spatial adjacency assists comparison search pattern finding exploration replication review just as sparklines are like words so then distributions of sparklines on a page are like sentences and paragraphs the graphical idea here is make it wordlike and typographic an idea that leads to reasonable answers for most questions about sparkline arrangements imagine new software or a new computer display that enormously improved the resolution of data graphics how wonderful and valuable that would be sparklines provide such improvements by design by direct public open source methods sparklines vastly increase the amount of data within our eyespan and intensify statistical graphics up to the everyday routine capabilities of the human eye brain system for reasoning about visual evidence seeing distinctions and making comparisons and data graphics are no longer a special occasion in a separate place with a frame on some slide with a label fig 17 b sparklines are everywhere with resolutions 5 to 100 times conventional graphics and tables sparklines can help us learn from the flood of numbers produced by modern measurement monitoring and surveillance technologies providing a straightforward and contextual look at intense evidence sparkline graphics give us some chance to be approximately right rather than exactly wrong sparklines for medical patient data in seth m powsner and edward r tufte summarizing clinical psychiatric data psychiatric services 48 november 1997 i would now change the boxes with normal limits to sparklines with normal limits the sparkline like double sided patient timeline is medically helpful data rich nicolas bissantz says june 1 2004 at 3 08 pm below you will see our implementation of your sparkline idea into a standard software application for data analysis we have always been very impressed of your rich examples and ideas for visualization the example shows data of a pharmaceutical manufacturer the chart helps in comparing the performance of their sales districts after having inhaled your books i set up a list of several dozen improvements we are going to implement we would appreciate and look forward to any comment or feedback from you sincerely yours nicolas bissantz edward tufte says june 1 2004 at 3 16 pm the red dot should refer to a specific number as in the glucose example on the opening page of the chapter the bar chart wastes space you could show at least 100 numbers in the space that now shows 1 number people read numbers in tables all the time see the financial section and sports section of any good newspaper and they don t need bars to see a bar to understand 1 number background colors frames and boxes don t add much avoid all data frames...