Friday, May 18, 2007

Making the world's most boring statistics come to life

It doesn't get much more boring than global health statistics. Watch Hans Rosling bring this data to life so that action can be taken on the hidden insights. Don't get sucked into thinking it's just his software that brings the data to life. While the software is cool, Hans subtly incorporates all of the basic rudiments of data visualization and presention skills and storytelling to make this data come alive. He's also baked in all four ingredients of insight, especially contextual understanding. Watch how he uses analogies and metaphors. Look for the basic Edward Tufte principles at work. He's a not-for-profit using free secondary data. Imagine what we could do...

Watch the video here.