[Yr11 Information Technology] data visualisations - bad example?

[Roland Gesthuizen]

I agree Adrian, there are some great examples. 

Many years ago when I worked at Orica on a project as a biochemist, we would use a log scale to flatten out the curves for various profiles as trying to get your head around graphs full of exponential curves (sometimes we would even use a log-log scale on both axis) would pop a few brain-cells to fathom. 

Whilst the straight lines do allow some comparison and seem to be reassuring, remember that at their core this is still an upwards exponential curve. In a sense, the change of your upward acceleration can slow but you are still increasing your speed upward .. just less so than before.

Back then I was excited by the personal discovery from one of my studies that goats metabolised levamisole at twice the rate of sheep .. well it was exciting to me back then. I later caused some Monash Uni Faculty of Education researchers to scratch their heads with my M.Ed project by visualising my data this way (not by introducing them to sheep)

Frightening is to talk to a biologist about exponential growth. 

Horror is to do the same with a climate scientist with the addition of a positive feedback loop.

True terror is to discover that your former year 12 class is now running the country.

Regards Roland
--
Roland GESTHUIZEN
http://about.me/rgesthuizen

> On 12 Mar 2020, at 10:02 am, Adrian Janson <janson.adrian.a at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> So The Age have this graph in an article on their front page today:
> 
> <Screen Shot 2020-03-12 at 9.55.02 am.png>
> and my first thought was: this is an exponential graph, but will the average person get that? It looks like China have plateaued - but have they? Their rate has slowed, but the graph with the scale like this makes it hard to see what is happening there.
> 
> Also - each country's line could have started on the timeline relative to the first case that was reported (though I know that overlaying them like this allows you to compare countries)...
> 
> Interesting times in the data visualisation world... plenty of examples!
> 
> 
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