Top Ten Tools: Many Eyes

This year I have tried to include the importance of visualization in my teaching. One of the most powerful tools to teach this concept has been ManyEyes. This site allows you to import data to create different visuals. By using the same data, my students are able to see the impact that different types of visuals have. It is an especially strong tool to use in teaching visual rhetoric.

How it works

I would suggest that you register for the site as you can upload data and save different visualizations. Once you have registered, I would upload a data set you might have worked on. You then click on visualizations and your data set will automatically be formatted into the chosen visualization. You might also want to try different visuals using the same data set. You can then save the visual and/or make it public for others to comment on.

Affordances

I have given students an optional assignment to use Many Eyes to create different visuals from the same data. They then have been required to integrate the visual into a presentation, comparing the different types of visuals and analyzing the impact each one has on interpreting the same data. This helps in teaching data analysis, statistics, and the multiple interpretation of the same data.

As mentioned above, this site also allows for comments, collaboration in developing visual representation of data, and development of visual rhetoric skills.