TEDGlobal 2010
David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization
David McCandless: 数据视觉化的美丽之处
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David McCandless把世界范围的武装开销，媒体的炒作，Facebook上状态更新以及更多的复杂数据变成了漂亮又简单的图表．他主张我们利用信息设计来导航今天供过于求的信息，帮助我们找到特殊的规律和联系，而这一切将有可能改变我们看待世界的方式．
David McCandless - Data journalist
David McCandless draws beautiful conclusions from complex datasets -- thus revealing unexpected insights into our world. Full bio
David McCandless draws beautiful conclusions from complex datasets -- thus revealing unexpected insights into our world. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
It feels like we're all suffering
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我们好像总是被超负荷的信息
00:17
from information overload or data glut.
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和过多的数据折磨.
00:20
And the good news is there might be an easy solution to that,
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好消息是也许我们能有种办法解决这个问题，
00:22
and that's using our eyes more.
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那就是更多的用我们的眼睛．
00:24
So, visualizing information, so that we can see
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把信息视觉化，我们就能看出
00:26
the patterns and connections that matter
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其中的规律和联系
00:29
and then designing that information so it makes more sense,
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然后再设计这些信息，让它更能有意义，
00:32
or it tells a story,
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或者让它来说明一个故事，
00:34
or allows us to focus only on the information that's important.
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或者让我们能只关注那些重要的信息．
00:38
Failing that, visualized information can just look really cool.
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如果不能做到这一点，至少视觉化的信息看起来特别酷．
00:41
So, let's see.
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让我们来看看．
00:45
This is the $Billion Dollar o-Gram,
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这是十亿美元图，
00:47
and this image arose
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我在看到媒体的十亿美元的报道时
00:49
out of frustration I had
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很沮丧，
00:51
with the reporting of billion-dollar amounts in the press.
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于是我就画了这幅图．
00:53
That is, they're meaningless without context:
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如果没有文字辅助，它是没意义的．
00:56
500 billion for this pipeline,
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五千亿用于运输管道的建设
00:58
20 billion for this war.
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二百亿用于战争．
01:00
It doesn't make any sense, so the only way to understand it
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这样并不能说明问题，所以唯一能理解它的方法
01:02
is visually and relatively.
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就是视觉化，相关化．
01:04
So I scraped a load of reported figures
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所以我从不同的信息渠道
01:06
from various news outlets
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收集了很多报道的数据
01:08
and then scaled the boxes according to those amounts.
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然后根据数量画出了这些方框．
01:11
And the colors here represent the motivation behind the money.
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颜色代表了这部分钱的用途．
01:14
So purple is "fighting,"
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紫色代表战乱
01:17
and red is "giving money away," and green is "profiteering."
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红色是把钱捐赠出去，绿色代表牟取暴利．
01:20
And what you can see straight away
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你能直接看出来的是
01:22
is you start to have a different relationship to the numbers.
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你开始和这些数字有了不同的关系．
01:24
You can literally see them.
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你能真正的看见它们了．
01:26
But more importantly, you start to see
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但更重要的是，你能开始看到
01:28
patterns and connections between numbers
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这些数字中的规律和联系了
01:30
that would otherwise be scattered across multiple news reports.
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如果不通过画图，这些信息都将只能散落在不同的新闻报道中．
01:33
Let me point out some that I really like.
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让我来讲讲我很喜欢的一个例子．
01:36
This is OPEC's revenue, this green box here --
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这是石油输出国组织的财政收益，绿色的方格这里
01:38
780 billion a year.
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是7800亿每年．
01:40
And this little pixel in the corner -- three billion --
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这个角落里的小像素是三十个亿
01:43
that's their climate change fund.
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这是他们的气候变化基金．
01:46
Americans, incredibly generous people --
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美国，这个特别慷慨的国家
01:48
over 300 billion a year, donated to charity every year,
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每年捐赠多于3000个亿
01:51
compared with the amount of foreign aid
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相比于其它17个工业化最发达的国家
01:53
given by the top 17 industrialized nations
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一共对外捐出的
01:55
at 120 billion.
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1200亿．
01:57
Then of course,
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当然，
01:59
the Iraq War, predicted to cost just 60 billion
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在2003年的预算中
02:01
back in 2003.
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伊拉克战争只要花掉600亿
02:04
And it mushroomed slightly. Afghanistan and Iraq mushroomed now
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这项实际的花销比预算稍多了一点, 但阿富汗战争的投入
02:07
to 3,000 billion.
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迅速增加到了3万亿.
02:10
So now it's great
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现在就很方便了,
02:12
because now we have this texture, and we can add numbers to it as well.
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因为我们有了这个结构,我们还能往里面加数字.
02:14
So we could say, well, a new figure comes out ... let's see African debt.
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我们能说一个新的图形出现了.....让我们来看下非洲的债务.
02:17
How much of this diagram do you think might be taken up
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你们认为在这张图里非洲
02:19
by the debt that Africa owes to the West?
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欠西方国家的债务能占多大比例呢?
02:21
Let's take a look.
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我们来看一看.
02:23
So there it is:
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这就是了.
02:25
227 billion is what Africa owes.
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非洲的债务一共是二千二百七十亿．
02:27
And the recent financial crisis,
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最近的这场金融危机－－
02:29
how much of this diagram might that figure take up?
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在这张图里能占多大的比例呢？
02:31
What has that cost the world? Let's take a look at that.
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这场危机又给世界带来了多大损失呢？让我们来看这里．
02:34
Dooosh -- Which I think is the appropriate sound effect
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Doosh(拟声词，相似于＂哇＂)，我想应该是配合这么多钱
02:37
for that much money:
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的恰当的声音效果．
02:39
11,900 billion.
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十一万九千个亿．
02:45
So, by visualizing this information,
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所以，通过视觉化这些信息，
02:47
we turned it into a landscape
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我们把它们转化成了一个直观景象
02:49
that you can explore with your eyes,
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这样你就能只通过眼睛探索，
02:51
a kind of map really, a sort of information map.
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真的类似于一个地图，一种信息的地图．
02:53
And when you're lost in information,
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当你在信息里迷失的时候，
02:55
an information map is kind of useful.
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这样的地图是很有帮助的．
02:58
So I want to show you another landscape now.
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我现在想展示另一番景象．
03:00
We need to imagine what a landscape
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我们来想象下世界的恐惧会是
03:02
of the world's fears might look like.
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什么样的一番景象．
03:05
Let's take a look.
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让我们来看一下．
03:07
This is Mountains Out of Molehills,
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这是摩尔山之外的一座＂山＂，
03:09
a timeline of global media panic.
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是全球医疗恐惧的时间线.
03:11
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
03:13
So, I'll label this for you in a second.
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我等下会把这些标记出来.
03:15
But the height here, I want to point out,
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但我想指出这里的高度
03:17
is the intensity of certain fears
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是媒体报道里
03:19
as reported in the media.
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人们的恐惧程度．
03:21
Let me point them out.
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让我来指出来.
03:23
So this, swine flu -- pink.
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这里,猪流感,标记成粉色.
03:27
Bird flu.
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禽流感.
03:29
SARS -- brownish here. Remember that one?
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非典--棕色一样的颜色.记住这一条.
03:32
The millennium bug,
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千禧虫--
03:35
terrible disaster.
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可怕的灾难.
03:37
These little green peaks
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这些小的绿色的峰
03:39
are asteroid collisions.
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是对小行星碰撞的恐惧.
03:41
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
03:43
And in summer, here, killer wasps.
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夏天的时候,这点是对杀人蜂的恐惧.
03:45
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
03:53
So these are what our fears look like
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所以这就是媒体描述里
03:55
over time in our media.
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我们的恐惧"长的模样",
03:57
But what I love -- and I'm a journalist --
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但我最喜欢的是--我是个记者--
03:59
and what I love is finding hidden patterns; I love being a data detective.
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我最喜欢的是找出隐藏着的规律. 我喜欢做个数据侦探.
04:02
And there's a very interesting and odd pattern hidden in this data
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而且这些数据里有很有趣又很奇怪的规律
04:05
that you can only see when you visualize it.
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你只能通过视觉化数据才能看出这些规律.
04:07
Let me highlight it for you.
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我来强调一下．
04:09
See this line, this is a landscape for violent video games.
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看这条线．这是暴力视频游戏的＂景象＂．
04:12
As you can see, there's a kind of odd, regular pattern in the data,
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正如你能看到的，是个有点奇怪的长方形的样子，
04:15
twin peaks every year.
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每年都有两个差不多大小的峰．
04:17
If we look closer, we see those peaks occur
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如果我们仔细看看，我们能看出这些峰
04:19
at the same month every year.
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每年出现的时间是一样的．
04:22
Why?
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为什么呢？
04:24
Well, November, Christmas video games come out,
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十一月的时候，是圣诞视频游戏发放的日子，
04:26
and there may well be an upsurge in the concern about their content.
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就很可能引起关于其内容的恐慌．
04:29
But April isn't a particularly massive month
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但四月对游戏而言
04:32
for video games.
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并不是个很特别的月份
04:34
Why April?
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为什么会是四月呢？
04:36
Well, in April 1999 was the Columbine shooting,
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其实，1999年的四月发生了哥伦拜恩枪击案，
04:39
and since then, that fear
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从那以后，
04:41
has been remembered by the media
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人们总是能通过媒体想起这份恐惧
04:43
and echoes through the group mind gradually through the year.
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在这一年里，这份恐惧也总是渐渐环绕在这个群体里．
04:45
You have retrospectives, anniversaries,
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你总会回顾，纪念，
04:48
court cases, even copy-cat shootings,
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也总有诉讼甚至是只单纯模仿别人的枪击案，
04:51
all pushing that fear into the agenda.
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所有这些都能引起人们的恐惧，而体现在这日历里．
04:54
And there's another pattern here as well. Can you spot it?
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而且这里还有另一个规律．你看出来了吗？
04:56
See that gap there? There's a gap,
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看见这个间断了吗？这里有一个间断．
04:58
and it affects all the other stories.
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这一点影响了其它所有部分．
05:00
Why is there a gap there?
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为什么这里会有一个间断呢？
05:02
You see where it starts? September 2001,
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看到它是从什么时候开始的吗？2001年9月(911发生的时间)
05:05
when we had something very real
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那个月里发了一件真的
05:07
to be scared about.
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很令人恐惧的事情．
05:09
So, I've been working as a data journalist for about a year,
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我做数据统计记者已经有一年了，
05:12
and I keep hearing a phrase
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我总是能听到这样一个说法
05:14
all the time, which is this:
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说：
05:17
"Data is the new oil."
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"数据是新的石油．"
05:19
Data is the kind of ubiquitous resource
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而且数据是一种无法不在的资源
05:22
that we can shape to provide new innovations and new insights,
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我们可以用它来开创新的革命和用新眼光来洞察世界，
05:25
and it's all around us, and it can be mined very easily.
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而且它就在我们身边，很容易被挖掘．
05:28
It's not a particularly great metaphor in these times,
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而且在这个时代这也不是什么很特别的比喻
05:31
especially if you live around the Gulf of Mexico,
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尤其是如果你生活在墨西哥湾,
05:34
but I would, perhaps, adapt this metaphor slightly,
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但我想，或者可以对这个比喻稍加改动，
05:36
and I would say that data is the new soil.
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我要说数据是新土壤．
05:40
Because for me, it feels like a fertile, creative medium.
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因为对我而言，它更像个可以施肥，能创造出东西来的媒体．
05:43
Over the years, online,
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经过这么多年，在网上
05:45
we've laid down
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我们已经积攒下
05:48
a huge amount of information and data,
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巨大数量的信息和数据，
05:50
and we irrigate it with networks and connectivity,
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而且我们用网络和连接来浇灌它们，
05:52
and it's been worked and tilled by unpaid workers and governments.
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不收取工资的人们和政府一直在努力耕作这片＂土壤＂．
05:55
And, all right, I'm kind of milking the metaphor a little bit.
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好吧，我有点夸大这个比喻了．
05:58
But it's a really fertile medium,
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但它真的是一个可以繁殖的媒体，
06:01
and it feels like visualizations, infographics, data visualizations,
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它想让被视觉化，把咨询图像化，数据可视化，
06:04
they feel like flowers blooming from this medium.
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它们就像是从土壤里长出的花朵．
06:07
But if you look at it directly,
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但如果你直接看这些数据，
06:09
it's just a lot of numbers and disconnected facts.
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它们就只是一堆数字和没有关联的事件．
06:11
But if you start working with it and playing with it in a certain way,
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但如果你开始分析它们，并用一种方式处理它们，
06:14
interesting things can appear and different patterns can be revealed.
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有趣的事就会发生，不同的规律也会显现出来．
06:17
Let me show you this.
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让我来展示下这个．
06:19
Can you guess what this data set is?
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你能猜出这是关于什么的数据吗？
06:22
What rises twice a year,
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有什么东西每年要升两次？
06:24
once in Easter
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一次在复活节
06:26
and then two weeks before Christmas,
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另一次在圣诞前的两周，
06:28
has a mini peak every Monday,
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每个周一都有一个小峰
06:30
and then flattens out over the summer?
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并在夏天的时候一直保持平坦．
06:32
I'll take answers.
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我来听听你们的想法．
06:34
(Audience: Chocolate.) David McCandless: Chocolate.
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(观众：巧克力)．David：巧克力．
06:36
You might want to get some chocolate in.
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你或许会想加一点巧克力进去．
06:39
Any other guesses?
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还有别的猜想呢？
06:41
(Audience: Shopping.) DM: Shopping.
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(观众：购物)．David：购物．
06:43
Yeah, retail therapy might help.
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嗯，购物疗法也许会有帮助．
06:46
(Audience: Sick leave.)
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(观众：病假)
06:48
DM: Sick leave. Yeah, you'll definitely want to take some time off.
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David：病假．嗯，你一定想休息几天．
06:50
Shall we see?
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我们来看答案吧？
06:53
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
07:01
(Applause)
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(掌声)
07:04
So, the information guru Lee Byron and myself,
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这里的信息是，Lee Byron和我自己
07:07
we scraped 10,000 status Facebook updates
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搜集了一万个Facebook的状态
07:10
for the phrase "break-up" and "broken-up"
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寻找包括"分手"和"分手了"的字样的更新
07:12
and this is the pattern we found --
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这就是我们收集的结果--
07:14
people clearing out for Spring Break,
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人们在春假期间＂清理＂关系．
07:16
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
07:21
coming out of very bad weekends on a Monday,
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接着的周一从过得很糟的周末中走出来
07:23
being single over the summer,
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一个暑假里都保持着单身．
07:26
and then the lowest day of the year, of course: Christmas Day.
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当然一年中分手最少的一天是：圣诞．
07:29
Who would do that?
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谁会这么做呢？
07:32
So there's a titanic amount of data out there now,
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现在外面有极多的数据，
07:34
unprecedented.
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史无前例的多．
07:37
But if you ask the right kind of question,
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但如果你问正确的问题，
07:39
or you work it in the right kind of way,
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或者你用正确的方式处理它，
07:41
interesting things can emerge.
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有趣的事就会发生．
07:44
So information is beautiful. Data is beautiful.
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所以信息是漂亮的，数据也是漂亮的．
07:47
I wonder if I could make my life beautiful.
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我想我能不能把我的生活也弄得很漂亮．
07:50
And here's my visual C.V.
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这是我的视觉化的简历．
07:52
I'm not quite sure I've succeeded.
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我还不太确定这份简历是不是成功．
07:54
Pretty blocky, the colors aren't that great.
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有很多的小块，颜色也不是特别的好．
07:56
But I wanted to convey something to you.
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但我想传递些东西给你们．
07:59
I started as a programmer,
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我从一个程序员开始做起，
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and then I worked as a writer for many years, about 20 years,
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之后我做了很多年作家，大约有二十年，
08:03
in print, online and then in advertising,
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在杂志上，网上之后还有广告中，
08:05
and only recently have I started designing.
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只在最近这一段我才开始进行设计．
08:08
And I've never been to design school.
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而且我从来没去过设计学校，
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I've never studied art or anything.
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我从没学校艺术或这类的东西．
08:13
I just kind of learned through doing.
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我就仅仅是从做的过程中来学．
08:15
And when I started designing,
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当我开始设计的时候，
08:17
I discovered an odd thing about myself.
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我发现了关于我自己的一件奇怪的事．
08:19
I already knew how to design,
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我已经知道怎么去设计了，
08:21
but it wasn't like I was amazingly brilliant at it,
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不是说我奇迹般的对设计特别在行，
08:24
but more like I was sensitive
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而更像是我对关于网格，空间
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to the ideas of grids and space
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以及排列和版面设计之类的
08:28
and alignment and typography.
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特别的敏感．
08:30
It's almost like being exposed
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就好像是暴露在媒体
08:32
to all this media over the years
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这么多年之后，
08:34
had instilled a kind of dormant design literacy in me.
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我被潜移默化地注入了设计的能力．
08:37
And I don't feel like I'm unique.
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而且我不觉得自己是唯一一个．
08:39
I feel that everyday, all of us now
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我感觉每一天，我们所有人
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are being blasted by information design.
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都对信息设计特别的不满．
08:44
It's being poured into our eyes through the Web,
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它们从网上一股脑灌入我们眼里
08:46
and we're all visualizers now;
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而且我们都是视觉型的人，
08:48
we're all demanding a visual aspect
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我们都想从视觉的角度
08:50
to our information.
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来看我们的信息．
08:53
There's something almost quite magical about visual information.
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这就是关于视觉化信息的神奇的地方．
08:56
It's effortless, it literally pours in.
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不需要努力的，它就自己进来了．
08:59
And if you're navigating a dense information jungle,
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如果你在密集的信息丛林里搜寻，
09:02
coming across a beautiful graphic
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突然看到一个漂亮的图画，
09:04
or a lovely data visualization,
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或者是一个可爱的视觉化的数据，
09:06
it's a relief, it's like coming across a clearing in the jungle.
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那将会是怎样的释然啊！ 就好像是在森林里碰到了开阔的地方．
09:09
I was curious about this, so it led me
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我对这很好奇，所以它引导我
09:11
to the work of a Danish physicist
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关注一个丹麦的物理学家
09:13
called Tor Norretranders,
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名叫Tor Norretranders,
09:15
and he converted the bandwidth of the senses into computer terms.
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他把感观的带宽转化成了电脑术语．
09:19
So here we go. This is your senses,
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过程是这样的．这是你的感观，
09:21
pouring into your senses every second.
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周围世界每一秒都往你的感观里注入东西．
09:23
Your sense of sight is the fastest.
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你的视觉是最快的．
09:26
It has the same bandwidth as a computer network.
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它有和电脑网络一样的带宽．
09:29
Then you have touch, which is about the speed of a USB key.
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你还有触觉，它有和USB接口一样的速度．
09:32
And then you have hearing and smell,
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你的听觉和嗅觉，
09:34
which has the throughput of a hard disk.
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有和硬盘一样的处理速度．
09:36
And then you have poor old taste,
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你还有可怜的，古老的味觉，
09:38
which is like barely the throughput of a pocket calculator.
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它仅仅只有口袋计算器那样的工作效率．
09:41
And that little square in the corner, a naught .7 percent,
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那角落里小小的正方形，占百分之0.7的比例，
09:44
that's the amount we're actually aware of.
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这就是我们真正能感知的部分．
09:47
So a lot of your vision --
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所以你很多的想像－－
09:49
the bulk of it is visual, and it's pouring in.
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大部分是视觉的，而且它是自己大批进入的．
09:51
It's unconscious.
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潜意识里进行的．
09:53
The eye is exquisitely sensitive
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眼睛对颜色变化中的规律，
09:56
to patterns in variations in color, shape and pattern.
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形状和模式是特别敏感的．
09:59
It loves them, and it calls them beautiful.
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如果眼睛喜欢它们，它就把它们叫作漂亮．
10:01
It's the language of the eye.
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这就是眼睛的语言．
10:03
If you combine the language of the eye with the language of the mind,
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而且你把眼睛的语言和头脑的语言联系在一起，
10:05
which is about words and numbers and concepts,
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关于词语，数字和概念这些，
10:08
you start speaking two languages simultaneously,
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你将能同时讲两种语言，
10:11
each enhancing the other.
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每一种都能加强另一种．
10:14
So, you have the eye, and then you drop in the concepts.
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所以你有眼睛，然后你想到了概念，
10:17
And that whole thing -- it's two languages
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这个过程，其实是两种语言，
10:19
both working at the same time.
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它们同时在一起工作．
10:21
So we can use this new kind of language, if you like,
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所以我们能用这种新的语言，如果你喜欢的话，
10:23
to alter our perspective or change our views.
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来改变我们的视角或者我们的观点．
10:26
Let me ask you a simple question
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让我来问一个简单的问题
10:28
with a really simple answer:
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它有个特别简单的答案．
10:30
Who has the biggest military budget?
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谁拥有最多的军队预算？
10:32
It's got to be America, right?
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这一定是美国，对吧？
10:34
Massive. 609 billion in 2008 --
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非常多的．在2008年有六千零九十亿
10:36
607, rather.
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六千零七十亿实际上是．
10:38
So massive, in fact, that it can contain
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这么多，事实上，它包含了
10:40
all the other military budgets in the world inside itself.
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所有其它国家的军队预算在里面．
10:43
Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble.
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格格,格格,格格,格格,格格(火鸡的叫声)
10:45
Now, you can see Africa's total debt there
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现在你能拿整个非洲的债务
10:47
and the U.K. budget deficit for reference.
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和英国的预算赤字来比较一下．
10:49
So that might well chime
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这很可能
10:51
with your view that America
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和你印象中的美国形象一致，
10:53
is a sort of warmongering military machine,
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那个好战的，有军队机器，
10:56
out to overpower the world
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强大到要用它的巨大的工业军事合成体
10:58
with its huge industrial-military complex.
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来压倒世界的国家．
11:01
But is it true that America has the biggest military budget?
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但美国真的有最多的军事预算吗？
11:04
Because America is an incredibly rich country.
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因为它是个特别富有的国家．
11:06
In fact, it's so massively rich
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事实上，它是这么有富有
11:08
that it can contain the four other
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它能把四个在它之后的
11:10
top industrialized nations' economies
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工业国家的经济收入
11:12
inside itself, it's so vastly rich.
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全包含在它之内．如此的富有．
11:15
So its military budget is bound to be enormous.
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它的军队预算是和经济联系在一起的
11:18
So, to be fair and to alter our perspective,
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所以，为了公平为了改变我们的视角，
11:20
we have to bring in another data set,
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我们得引入另一组数据，
11:22
and that data set is GDP, or the country's earnings.
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这就是国民生产总值，或者是一个国家的收入．
11:24
Who has the biggest budget as a proportion of GDP?
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哪个国家的军队预算是占国民生产总值最多的呢？
11:26
Let's have a look.
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让我们来看一看．
11:28
That changes the picture considerably.
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这把格局改变了很多．
11:31
Other countries pop into view that you, perhaps, weren't considering,
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其它你很可能没想到的国家一下子出现了，
11:34
and American drops into eighth.
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美国跌入了第八位．
11:36
Now you can also do this with soldiers.
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你也同样可以对士兵进行这样的运算．
11:38
Who has the most soldiers? It's got to be China.
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哪个国家有最多的士兵？一定是中国．
11:40
Of course, 2.1 million.
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当然，二百一十万．
11:42
Again, chiming with your view
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同样的，和你对中国，
11:44
that China has a militarized regime
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那个军事化的政权，准备着
11:46
ready to, you know, mobilize its enormous forces.
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要发挥其强大的武装力量的印象一致．
11:48
But of course, China has an enormous population.
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但不可否认，中国有巨大的人口，
11:51
So if we do the same,
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如果我们做同样的处理，
11:53
we see a radically different picture.
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我们看到一个彻底不同的景象．
11:55
China drops to 124th.
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中国落到了124位．
11:57
It actually has a tiny army
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它其实只有很小的一支部队，
11:59
when you take other data into consideration.
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如果你把人口考虑进去的话．
12:02
So, absolute figures, like the military budget,
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所以，绝对的数字，就像是军队预算，
12:04
in a connected world,
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在一个紧密联系的世界里
12:06
don't give you the whole picture.
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好像不能给你一个完整的格局．
12:08
They're not as true as they could be.
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它们并不是它们能达到的最真实的状态．
12:10
We need relative figures that are connected to other data
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我们需要相对的数据，这些数据和其它数据相联系
12:13
so that we can see a fuller picture,
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我们才能看到一个更全面的世界．
12:15
and then that can lead to us changing our perspective.
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而这一点能改变我们的视角．
12:17
As Hans Rosling, the master,
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就像Hans Rosling, 校长
12:19
my master, said,
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我的校长说的那样，
12:22
"Let the dataset change your mindset."
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＂让数据模式改变你的心理模式．＂
12:26
And if it can do that, maybe it can also change your behavior.
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如果它能做到这一点，也许它能同时改变你的行为．
12:29
Take a look at this one.
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来看一下这个．
12:31
I'm a bit of a health nut.
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我有一点健康迷．
12:33
I love taking supplements and being fit,
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我喜欢吃一些保养品来保持健康
12:36
but I can never understand what's going on in terms of evidence.
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但我从来不能用证据证明这些东西是不是真的有用．
12:39
There's always conflicting evidence.
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总是会有相当矛盾的证据．
12:41
Should I take vitamin C? Should I be taking wheatgrass?
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我是应该吃维他命C？还是吃小麦草素？
12:43
This is a visualization of all the evidence
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这里把所有这些关于
12:45
for nutritional supplements.
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营养补品的证据都视觉化了．
12:47
This kind of diagram is called a balloon race.
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这样的图表叫作热气球竞赛．
12:50
So the higher up the image,
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图上越高的地方，
12:52
the more evidence there is for each supplement.
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有越多的关于这些补品的证据．
12:55
And the bubbles correspond to popularity as regards to Google hits.
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这些气泡的大小对应于GOOGLE上这样补品的受欢迎程度．
12:58
So you can immediately apprehend
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这样你能马上就领会效力
13:01
the relationship between efficacy and popularity,
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和受欢迎程度间的关系．
13:04
but you can also, if you grade the evidence,
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而且同时，如果你把证据分级别的话，
13:07
do a "worth it" line.
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画出一条＂值得＂的线．
13:09
So supplements above this line are worth investigating,
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所以在这条线以上的补品是那些值得投资的，
13:12
but only for the conditions listed below,
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但只是针对下面列出的这些症状．
13:15
and then the supplements below the line
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对于这条线以下的补品，
13:18
are perhaps not worth investigating.
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就很可能不太值得投资了．
13:20
Now this image constitutes a huge amount of work.
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这幅图凝结了我们大量的工作．
13:23
We scraped like 1,000 studies from PubMed,
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我们挖掘了Pubmed上一千个左右的研究，
13:26
the biomedical database,
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Pubmed是一个生物医学的数据库，
13:28
and we compiled them and graded them all.
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我们收集了这些研究并把他们分了级别．
13:31
And it was incredibly frustrating for me
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这让我相当沮丧
13:33
because I had a book of 250 visualizations to do for my book,
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因为我的书需要250个可视化图像
13:36
and I spent a month doing this,
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我用了一个月做这幅图，
13:38
and I only filled two pages.
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却只能填充两页纸．
13:40
But what it points to
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但重点是
13:42
is that visualizing information like this
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像这样把信息视觉化的过程
13:44
is a form of knowledge compression.
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是把知识压缩的过程．
13:46
It's a way of squeezing an enormous amount
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这是一种从巨大数量的信息
13:48
of information and understanding
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中压榨出精华
13:50
into a small space.
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并理解的过程．
13:52
And once you've curated that data, and once you've cleaned that data,
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一旦你整理了这些数据，或者说清理了这些数据，
13:54
and once it's there,
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一旦它在那了
13:56
you can do cool stuff like this.
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你就能做像这样很酷的事了．
13:58
So I converted this into an interactive app,
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所以我用这个原理开发出了一个互动的应用程序，
14:00
so I can now generate this application online --
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我现在能在网上生成这个程序－－
14:02
this is the visualization online --
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并在网上进行视觉化－－
14:04
and I can say, "Yeah, brilliant."
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我能称赞它＂真好，太棒了＂
14:06
So it spawns itself.
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它自动开始工作．
14:08
And then I can say, "Well, just show me the stuff
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然后我就能说＂嗯，给我看下那些
14:10
that affects heart health."
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影响心脏健康的东西＂
14:12
So let's filter that out.
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它就开始筛选
14:14
So heart is filtered out, so I can see if I'm curious about that.
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心脏被选出去了，我对这很好奇．
14:17
I think, "No, no. I don't want to take any synthetics,
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我想＂不，不，我不想吃任何合成的药品
14:19
I just want to see plants and --
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我只想用植物－－
14:22
just show me herbs and plants. I've got all the natural ingredients."
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就只显示那些草本和植物．我有所有自然的营养成分．＂
14:25
Now this app is spawning itself
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现在这个程序又开始从数据
14:27
from the data.
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里自动生成．
14:29
The data is all stored in a Google Doc,
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所有数据都保存在Google doc里面，
14:31
and it's literally generating itself from that data.
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它实际上是在自己利用数据完成视觉化．
14:34
So the data is now alive; this is a living image,
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现在数据变成活的了，它现在是一个动态的图像了，
14:36
and I can update it in a second.
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而且我能一下就完成更新．
14:38
New evidence comes out. I just change a row on a spreadsheet.
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如果新的证据出现了－－我只需要在表格里改一行．
14:40
Doosh! Again, the image recreates itself.
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哇！又一次的，图像自己重新生成了自己．
14:44
So it's cool.
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这很酷．
14:46
It's kind of living.
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有点有生命的感觉．
14:49
But it can go beyond data,
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但它其实能比数据走得更远，
14:51
and it can go beyond numbers.
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而且也不仅仅限于数字．
14:53
I like to apply information visualization
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我喜欢用信息视觉化
14:55
to ideas and concepts.
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的方法来处理思想和概念．
14:58
This is a visualization
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这是一个对政治观点
15:00
of the political spectrum,
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视觉化的图像，
15:02
an attempt for me to try
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是我在试图理解
15:04
and understand how it works
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政治是如果工作的．
15:06
and how the ideas percolate down
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理解想法是怎么向下渗透的
15:08
from government into society and culture,
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从政府开始到社会和文化，
15:10
into families, into individuals, into their beliefs
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再传递到家庭，各人以及他们的信念中
15:13
and back around again in a cycle.
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而且又如何再反过来影响上层，形成一个循环的．
15:16
What I love about this image
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关于这幅图我喜欢的是
15:18
is it's made up of concepts,
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它是由概念组成的，
15:20
it explores our worldviews
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它开拓了我们的世界观
15:22
and it helps us -- it helps me anyway --
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并且帮助我们－－至少是帮助我－－
15:24
to see what others think,
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看清别人是怎么想的，
15:26
to see where they're coming from.
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了解他们的想法是从哪里来的．
15:28
And it feels just incredibly cool to do that.
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做这件事感觉真是太棒了．
15:31
What was most exciting for me
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最让我兴奋的是
15:34
designing this
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设计
15:36
was that, when I was designing this image,
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当我在设计这些图的时候，
15:38
I desperately wanted this side, the left side,
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我极其希望这一边，左边
15:41
to be better than the right side --
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能比右边好－－
15:43
being a journalist, a Left-leaning person --
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作为一个记者，我是个有点左倾的人－－
15:46
but I couldn't, because I would have created
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但我不能，因为如果这样我全造出一个
15:48
a lopsided, biased diagram.
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不平衡的，带着偏见的图．
15:51
So, in order to really create a full image,
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所以，为了真正的创造一个完整的图，
15:54
I had to honor the perspectives on the right-hand side
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我得尊重右手边的这些观点
15:57
and at the same time, uncomfortably recognize
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同时，有点不太情愿地认识到
16:00
how many of those qualities were actually in me,
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我其实也有这其中很多的品质，
16:03
which was very, very annoying and uncomfortable.
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对我而言，这是特别特别地讨厌和不舒服的．
16:05
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
16:09
But not too uncomfortable,
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但也不是特别不舒服，
16:11
because there's something unthreatening
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因为看到一些政治观点，
16:14
about seeing a political perspective,
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总比被告知或者被强迫听着这些观点，
16:16
versus being told or forced to listen to one.
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不让人那么有压迫和威胁感．
16:19
You're capable of holding conflicting viewpoints
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事实上，在你看到它们的时候
16:22
joyously when you can see them.
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你能快乐的承受矛盾的观点．
16:24
It's even fun to engage with them
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甚至和它们打交道是有趣的
16:26
because it's visual.
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因为这是视觉的．
16:28
So that's what's exciting to me,
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这就是它让我着迷的地方，
16:30
seeing how data can change my perspective
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看数据是如何让我改变观点
16:32
and change my mind midstream --
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并且改变我思维的主流－－
16:34
beautiful, lovely data.
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漂亮的，可爱的数据．
16:38
So, just to wrap up,
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简单总结一下，
16:40
I wanted to say
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我想说
16:42
that it feels to me that design is about solving problems
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我感觉设计其实是在解决问题
16:44
and providing elegant solutions,
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并且给出一个精美的解决办法．
16:47
and information design is about
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信息设计是在
16:49
solving information problems.
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解决信息上的问题．
16:51
It feels like we have a lot of information problems
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现在我们社会里，好像有很多
16:53
in our society at the moment,
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信息方面的问题，
16:55
from the overload and the saturation
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来自于过多的饱和的数据，
16:57
to the breakdown of trust and reliability
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到信任和可靠性的缺失
16:59
and runaway skepticism and lack of transparency,
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以及逃避的怀疑和缺乏透明度，
17:01
or even just interestingness.
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甚至是失去兴趣．
17:03
I mean, I find information just too interesting.
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我想说，我觉得信息真是特别有趣．
17:05
It has a magnetic quality that draws me in.
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它有一种磁力吸引着我．
17:09
So, visualizing information
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所以，视觉化信息
17:11
can give us a very quick solution to those kinds of problems.
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能给我们一种快速的方法来解决这些问题．
17:14
Even when the information is terrible,
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即使是在信息很糟的情况下，
17:16
the visual can be quite beautiful.
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视觉上仍会很漂亮．
17:19
Often we can get clarity
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经常地我们能很快的
17:22
or the answer to a simple question very quickly,
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理清条理，或者找到一个简单问题的答案．
17:24
like this one,
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就像这个，
17:26
the recent Icelandic volcano.
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关于冰岛的火山的最近的讨论．
17:29
Which was emitting the most CO2?
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哪一个喷发出了最多的二氧化碳？
17:31
Was it the planes or the volcano,
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是那些飞机还是火山，
17:33
the grounded planes or the volcano?
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是那些严禁起飞的飞机还是火山？
17:35
So we can have a look.
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让我们来看一下．
17:37
We look at the data and we see:
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看着这些数据
17:39
Yep, the volcano emitted 150,000 tons;
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我们发现，火山喷发出了十五万吨；
17:41
the grounded planes would have emitted
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那些禁止起飞的飞机如果飞着的话
17:43
345,000 if they were in the sky.
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将喷发出三十四万五千吨．
17:46
So essentially, we had our first carbon-neutral volcano.
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所以实际上，我们有了第一个碳中性的火山．
17:49
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
17:51
(Applause)
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(掌声)
18:00
And that is beautiful. Thank you.
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而且这很漂亮！谢谢
18:03
(Applause)
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（掌声）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
David McCandless - Data journalistDavid McCandless draws beautiful conclusions from complex datasets -- thus revealing unexpected insights into our world.
Why you should listen
David McCandless makes infographics -- simple, elegant ways to see information that might be too complex or too big, small, abstract or scattered to otherwise be grasped. In his new book, Information Is Beautiful (in the US, it's being called The Visual Miscellaneum), McCandless and his cadre of info designers take a spin through the world of visualized data, from hard stats on politics and climate to daffy but no less important trends in pop music.
McCandless' genius is not so much in finding jazzy new ways to show data -- the actual graphics aren't the real innovation here -- as in finding fresh ways to combine datasets to let them ping and prod each other. Reporting the number of drug deaths in the UK every year is interesting; but mapping that data onto the number of drug deaths reported by the UK press, broken down by drug, is utterly fascinating (more deaths by marijuana were reported than in fact occurred, by a factor of 484%). McCandless contributes a monthly big-think graphic to the Guardian's Data Blog, and makes viral graphics for his blog Information Is Beautiful.
David McCandless | Speaker | TED.com