We use visualisation to present large and complex data sets where people will be able to understand the content easily and fast. It is more then representing complex data in an interesting and appealing way but it provides the audience with tools for them to analyse and make comparisons on their own.
Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War 1858 utilised a chart to show and make comparisons using area to show what was the main causes of death to their troops. Although there where alternatives types of graphs she could of used, she ended up using the graph shown below, this not only uses area to visually show the amount and difference of each cause of death but also shows it over a period of time effectively getting her message across in both a visually intriguing and comprehendible way. Although in modern times a bar chart would be a more effective and clearer graph to get the message across.
Diagram of the causes of mortality in the army in the East. [Image] (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2017, from Lecture Pod 3, Visualisation: historical and contemporary visualisation methods
Otto Neurath 1882-1945 used visualisation to make social and economical relationships understandable for the uneducated, He developed ISOTYPE, International System of Typographic Picture Education, to do this by using same sized figures to show quality rather then size.
Reflection
This lecture gave me insight on historical uses of charts and data and how certain types of charts came to be, being mainly for the uneducated or for high officials to get their information across in a quick and easy way. This lecture also gave examples of how these would be appropriated in our time to make it more comprehendible.
Data Visualisation 