Last weekend I started putting together a viz (using Miro) which is like a cross between a hierarchical tree and a relational network graph with the purpose of telling the story of how multi-faceted the field of data visualisation and it's components are. The nodes are techniques, methods, books, courses and tools. Links were deliberately created in a very fast ideation, 'brainstorm-y' (work with me) manner, with the hope of leading to some 'aha' moments. It reminded me of the game 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' we used to play at university (we're all six steps or less from the great man).
As the network grew and grew it was becoming increasing clear why those in the field always feel like there is something extra to do, to learn, to read, to watch. Having added some of my favourite tutorials, I then started designing a skills timeline (you can see the link just below the root node) to visualise some of the current work/study I'm doing along these multiple paths...the colour coding is an unfinished job but is intended to map back to the network graph, grouping nodes according to high level areas such as Design, Data Journalism, Geo Spatial etc.
Other than making me feel that there just weren't enough hours in the day, it was an interesting exercise in systems thinking and the synthesising of multi-dimensional information. It was also fun to fuse instinctive, fast visualisation, with slower, more considered design. The information flow included parent-child relationships, there were unidirectional and bidirectional (non-hierarchical) relationships, and there was a temporal aspect too. As is so often the case, the instinctive voice to do everything in one place should often be ignored. Insightful data communication relies on multiple perspectives.
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