Digital Humanities: Data visualisation

Data visualisation is used to discover and explore the trends, relationships and patterns present within a body of information, and to communicate these insights to others. In digital humanities, online exhibitions of digital collections often use some of these techniques to visualise and communicate research outcomes.

Data visualisation can refer to many different activities, including the creation of:

• Graphs
  • Plotting numeric data on a graph is a common form of data visualisation.
• Diagrams
  • Diagrams can be used to visually represent concepts or models. They can show the relationships and connections between ideas and concepts.
• Networks
  • A network is a dataset with interconnected components. When a network is visualised, its components appear as nodes, and connections are meaningful links between these nodes.
• Maps
  • Location-based data can be visualised using a map to draw clear connections between place and data.
• Timelines
  • Timelines can be a good way to visualise events or sequential progressions.

Tools:

• Overview
  • Overview is an open source document mining application, enabling the quick reading and analysis of large numbers of documents. It is also used for data visualisation and analysis.
  • Used for journalistic purposes to mine original source documents for these news stories.
• Gephi
  • Gephi is an open source network analysis and visualisation tool.
  • Used by Martin Grandjean to analyse and map the digital humanities network on Twitter.

Techniques:

There are many different ways to visualise data. Resources to help you find a technique that will suit your needs include:

• The Data Viz Project
• The Data Visualisation Catalogue
• From Data to Viz

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
  • It's advisable to follow WCAG guidelines when creating visualisations and presenting them online, to ensure that they are perceivable and distinguishable to as wide an audience as possible.
• Data Analysis and Visualisation Guide
  • A best practice guide on data analysis and visualisation, which includes sections on Creating a Visualisation, Visualisation Tips, and Visualisation Tools.

• Text Visualization Browser
  • An interactive, visual overview of a lot of different visualisation techniques that have been used by people analysing and visualising texts. You can filter by many different aspects, including the type of analysis performed, the type of data being visualised and the domain the data relate to, helping you find techniques that are relevant to you.
• Kindred Britain
  • A network visualisation of nearly 30,000 individuals from British history connected through family relationships of blood, marriage, or affiliation.
• Vectis Scenery
  • A cartographic journey featuring 41 copperplate engravings depicting scenic landscapes and buildings on the Isle of Wight.

Resources

Data Analysis and Visualisation Guide

Consultations and training

The University's Sydney Informatics Hub provides support and training for researchers, including data visualisation support. They also run a monthly drop-in Hacky Hour.