Lesson: The Case for Dots
We’ve discussed dot plots, but they’re generally underutilized compared to bars, lines and pies. Dot plots are a popular alternative to maps when dealing with a large number of geographies such as countries or states. So it’s time to take a closer look at dots and why they can be useful for large datasets.
Follow along with the slides here: In Support of Dot Plots
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Readings
• 5 Ways to Read a Scatterplot (Datawrapper Blog)
Discussion
The global Sigma Awards recognize the best of data journalism, often with a data visualization component. This is the second year of the competition — it grew out of previous, smaller awards groups — with 140 finalists and a dozen winners announced over the summer. We’ll use that list to explore some excellent examples of journalism outside the U.S.
Sigma Awards: Choose one Sigma Awards winner from this collection that is from or about a country other than the United States, and answer these questions about it:
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- Which finalist did you choose and what is the overall story about?
- Although this is a global competition, many of the examples were created for a local audience in a particular country or city. Who do think was the intended audience for the example you chose?
- What are at least two things you would need to keep in mind to make data visualizations work for a global audience?
See all the examples by scrolling down to the “Sigmas 2022 Winners” section, or further to the “All-time database of projects.”
Assignment
There is just one longer assignment this week, described in the previous lesson.