The statement from 2:06 into this YouTube-video:
Rather unexpected the debate between infographic artists whether or not to use circles in your graphics - ie bubble charts - has now got an entry from a popular singer.
Paloma Faith is clearly questioning the use of circles, when you want to show the truth - and wearing a pie chart for a hat is only further evidence, that we have an infographic statement here:
Snippet from her lyrics:
Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
Just close your eyes and make believe
Do you want the truth or something beautiful?
I am happy to deceive you
Sacred lies in, telling tales
I can be who you wants me to be
But do u want me?
So true - I’m going to hear Paloma Faith sing this song, the next time I’m about to make a graphic with circles …
]]>Despite the snow covering the city of Pamplona in a white dress, we all made it to the Palacio Condestable, where we were welcomed by the usual bunch of official people: Javier Errea, Organizer of Malofiej, Kris Visselman - President of SND, Mónica Herrero, Dean of the University and Fermín Alonso from Pamplona City Council.
And what a crowd we are. I’m estimating (and Javier Errea did the same) that we’re close to 150 people participating in this years summit. Not the absolute record, but a very good attendance given that the financial crisis isn’t exactly over yet.
A few snacks, a glass of red wine and a lot of ‘hello - nice to see you’s later, we were off and heading for the Jumping Jester, - the almost official meeting place / bar for everyone participating in Malofiej.
]]>Here is one to show your boss and family, who might suspect you went to Pamplona to live on infographics, red wine and sunshine all week. At least the sunshine is sorely missed.
It’s actually snowing in Pamplona right now and the temperature is just above zero in the daytime and a bit below the freezing point in the night. So now we’ll have to settle for infographics, red wine and a cosy talk at the hotel lobby, while we look into the snow falling from the sky.
Tonight the summit will officially open with a reception in the old part of Pamplona. We will also be able to pick up a copy of the Malofiej annual book, which supposedly should be full of surprises this year.
]]>After a very cold trip to San Sebastian - yes, the ground was covered with snow - the participants returned to Pamplona and started to work on their infographics projects.
All the participants are divided into smaller groups, who now work hard and compete with each other to present the best or most innovative solution about visualizing the Chillida-leku Museum.
The presentation of the finished projects (presented as sketches - it’s the ideas that counts) will be Wednesday before lunch.
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Alberto Cairo is a former professor at Chapel Hill, where he taught online graphics. Before that he was the succesful graphics director at El Mundo Online. In short: This guy knows what he is talking about, when it comes to both printed and online graphics …
Today Alberto took a critical look at the current data-visualization-trend, which got a huge boost last year, when New York Times took home a gold medal and even the ‘Best of Show’-award for a certain Box Office graphic. Regular readers of this site will remember the discussion we had last year after the awards. Click here to read it again.
Emperor’s new clothes
What Alberto is saying out in the open now, has been floating around for a while. But apparently only a few dare to say that graphics are getting too complicated - for fear of being looked upon as stupid, if they dare challenge such abstract wonders. I can’t help to think of the Emperor’s new clothes, whenever such a situation takes place.
Article in the Malofiej Book
Afterwards Alberto told me, that he has written a somewhat provocative article in this years edition of the Malofiej Book, where he will give even more examples about the dangers of data-visualization. And like he says - it’s not personal taste - it is science, cognitive psychology, that tells us that the brain can’t handle overly complex graphics with no context. The Malofiej Book will be presented wednesday evening at the opening reception of the Malofiej Summit - watch this space.
Hopefully we’re just about to bring the discussion out in the open now. I’ve met a lot of people already here in Pamplona who are voicing concern about the data-driven charts, so the debate could end up lively, if people have got the guts to start talking to each other with an open mind about this topic.
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The judges have now been through all of the entries for the first time - and as expected only the select few made it to round two and three where the medals are awarded. A bit of discussion among the judges about the fairness in the procedure, because it takes only four judges out of nine (in print-category) to throw an entry out of the competition.
Voting system explained
The system this year is as follows: All the entries in a category are put up at the tables, and the judges can walk alongside them and put markers on the ones which they do NOT like enough to see it advance in the competition. If more than four markers are found on an entry after the presentation, it is removed. Several entries got a full cup and were removed with nine markers - one even mistakenly had eleven markers on it after the first round. It was a graphic without a chance of an award, so no harm was done.
In the next round the judges have to place a chip on the graphics, which they DO like. And if five judges marks a graphic as good enough, it will make it to the actual discussion where the medals are awarded. With nine judges it takes 6 votes to be awarded a bronze, 7 votes to get a silver and 8 votes to be crowned with a golden medal. Is the entry submitted by one of the judges they will have to step away and let the remaining judges discuss and vote about that specific entry.
If this system is working and if it’s fair is always up for discussion. Every competition has its own system, and I guess every judge has their own ideas about how a perfect system should be.
Be happy with whatever system you choose
I remember, when I was a judge in Malofiej back in 2003, we scrapped the proposed system and made another while eating our first lunch. There we used different coins to introduce different values of voting (gold, silver and bronze), so we could spend more time discussing the entries and less time walking around the tables judging in silence. We were happy with our system, but I respect that every jury get to choose what works for them.
As of today it looks like this jury is very stingy with the goldmedals. So far they have awarded nothing better than silvers, even if a couple of entries got the internal title of being ‘almost-golds’. But the awards aren’t officially announced before Friday night, so there is plenty of time for more discussion to take place among the judges.
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