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Go Figure: How do you make statistics relevant to individuals? | Go Figure: How do you make statistics relevant to individuals? |
(2 months later) | |
By Michael Blastland GO FIGURE - Seeing stats in a different way | |
It's difficult to get personal with information about the whole of society but it is possible, Michael Blastland says in his regular column. | It's difficult to get personal with information about the whole of society but it is possible, Michael Blastland says in his regular column. |
Can we be here and there at the same time? Forgive Go Figure's philosophical drift. But take a look at this map and then we'll get to why it matters | Can we be here and there at the same time? Forgive Go Figure's philosophical drift. But take a look at this map and then we'll get to why it matters |
Begin at the bottom of the frame, with the woman standing at the corner of 3rd and 7th in Manhattan. From here we see a 3D perspective, the immediate view of the city almost as if standing there. | Begin at the bottom of the frame, with the woman standing at the corner of 3rd and 7th in Manhattan. From here we see a 3D perspective, the immediate view of the city almost as if standing there. |
Now look up and the city blends into the view from above, map-like. We have a sense both of being here and being there, being in and being apart. | Now look up and the city blends into the view from above, map-like. We have a sense both of being here and being there, being in and being apart. |
The image was created by the design consultancy, Berg, and inspired by the perspectives in Alfred Wainwright's books of Lakeland walks. | The image was created by the design consultancy, Berg, and inspired by the perspectives in Alfred Wainwright's books of Lakeland walks. |
Jack Shulze of Berg says the map exploits today's higher levels of visual literacy from games, television and comics. Part of his purpose, he says, was "an exploration into way-finding devices." He writes about his influences here. | Jack Shulze of Berg says the map exploits today's higher levels of visual literacy from games, television and comics. Part of his purpose, he says, was "an exploration into way-finding devices." He writes about his influences here. |
It's a great image. To me it's also a great metaphor for one of statistics' all-time headaches: how to make aggregate data that describes whole populations, their lives, chances and risks, feel real and relevant to everyone's sense of "me, here, now". | It's a great image. To me it's also a great metaphor for one of statistics' all-time headaches: how to make aggregate data that describes whole populations, their lives, chances and risks, feel real and relevant to everyone's sense of "me, here, now". |
You'll recognise the problem. The news reports some fact about how many of the people who share your circumstances - your illness, your treatment, your job, your habits, your beliefs - will live long, die early, prosper and so on. Except that your life has been nothing like that. | You'll recognise the problem. The news reports some fact about how many of the people who share your circumstances - your illness, your treatment, your job, your habits, your beliefs - will live long, die early, prosper and so on. Except that your life has been nothing like that. |
And while we all know - of course we do - that there can be exceptions to a statistical generality, this does nothing to persuade many whose raw experience is that exception. I know this. I've tried. When abstract knowledge and the smell of the coal face collide, there's often no contest. | And while we all know - of course we do - that there can be exceptions to a statistical generality, this does nothing to persuade many whose raw experience is that exception. I know this. I've tried. When abstract knowledge and the smell of the coal face collide, there's often no contest. |
Last week I bumped into a guy who had recently travelled through Moscow. For friends at the time, there was only one question: "Are you all right?" They'd heard the news about the suicide bomber who killed dozens and injured hundreds more, and they knew that Britons were among the casualties. | Last week I bumped into a guy who had recently travelled through Moscow. For friends at the time, there was only one question: "Are you all right?" They'd heard the news about the suicide bomber who killed dozens and injured hundreds more, and they knew that Britons were among the casualties. |
Frenzy | Frenzy |
Their perspective was immediate, personal and - for some perhaps - fear had them by the throat. Yet statistically, the question was absurd, if irresistible. Like asking someone who played the lottery: "So, did you win a fortune this week?" | Their perspective was immediate, personal and - for some perhaps - fear had them by the throat. Yet statistically, the question was absurd, if irresistible. Like asking someone who played the lottery: "So, did you win a fortune this week?" |
It's analogous to the public and media frenzy over one life saved - perhaps - by a rare and hugely expensive treatment, while putting out of mind the many less visible others who will die because the money is no longer there for them, a kind of tunnel vision formed by the intensity of emotional connection. Pity can be, in its own way, also ruthless and inhumane. | It's analogous to the public and media frenzy over one life saved - perhaps - by a rare and hugely expensive treatment, while putting out of mind the many less visible others who will die because the money is no longer there for them, a kind of tunnel vision formed by the intensity of emotional connection. Pity can be, in its own way, also ruthless and inhumane. |
One BBC correspondent whose work I admire says that part of his job is to look at change as if from a cloud, not to be unduly distracted by the weird and wonderfully compelling but isolated cases, but without appearing remote or indifferent. | One BBC correspondent whose work I admire says that part of his job is to look at change as if from a cloud, not to be unduly distracted by the weird and wonderfully compelling but isolated cases, but without appearing remote or indifferent. |
And for any chance or risk, seeing ourselves or others both as individuals for whom the event would be everything - and as a statistical possibility for whom the event may be a grain of sand - is a dual mental perspective that leaves some people cold and hostile. It is why, for some, statistics don't work and never will. | And for any chance or risk, seeing ourselves or others both as individuals for whom the event would be everything - and as a statistical possibility for whom the event may be a grain of sand - is a dual mental perspective that leaves some people cold and hostile. It is why, for some, statistics don't work and never will. |
So here's a challenge that I'm going to describe as a problem of design: how to feel for the one and see the many at the same time with the same intensity. How to be there and here. When, say, a chance is one in a million, how do we keep in mind the one and the million. | So here's a challenge that I'm going to describe as a problem of design: how to feel for the one and see the many at the same time with the same intensity. How to be there and here. When, say, a chance is one in a million, how do we keep in mind the one and the million. |
Here's one other visual attempt that I enjoyed, an exhibition a couple of years ago of big facts about modern life, where each person was represented by a grain of rice. It was called "Of all the people in all the world" and you can learn more here. | Here's one other visual attempt that I enjoyed, an exhibition a couple of years ago of big facts about modern life, where each person was represented by a grain of rice. It was called "Of all the people in all the world" and you can learn more here. |
So, one huge pile of rice might show us how many of the word's population are obese. A cleverness of the idea was that all who visited the show were given something to induce a personal shock of scale: their own grain of rice. | So, one huge pile of rice might show us how many of the word's population are obese. A cleverness of the idea was that all who visited the show were given something to induce a personal shock of scale: their own grain of rice. |
Also worth a look are Chris Jordan's compelling sequences of images, here. | Also worth a look are Chris Jordan's compelling sequences of images, here. |
Click on the image to zoom - from there to here. Other examples, or maybe even a solution, gratefully received. | Click on the image to zoom - from there to here. Other examples, or maybe even a solution, gratefully received. |
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