A disconnect

The Times ran a slate of graphics "analyzing" seven nights of concerts by a blogger.  On the left is one of these charts. 

I am not sure what to make of it.    All I can say is the chart designer had fun.  More on his blog.

Source: "7 Nights of Bright Eyes (in as Many Colors", New York Times, June 10, 2007

Comments

[Jon Peltier]

Chart designer? Jackson Pollack imitator? The small clip you hosted didn't do justice to the explosion of color and 3D shapes in the Times piece. In fact, it's to standard 3D what 3D is to 2D. And it doesn't appear that there was too much quantitative analysis involved. "deep, profound thoughts", "quality arc", etc. No explicit description for most of it. What are those bubbles in the bottom center, and how do they relate to the bars ("applause meter")?

[Matt Burton]

I think the point of these graphics is "fun". Reminds me of the feltron annual reports(1). At what point does information visualization become Art?

(1)http://www.feltron.com/06report_index.html

[Kaiser]

Jon: yes, there are many more goodies in the Times than the one chart I used. It would be cruel to use Tufte-style analysis on these charts.

Matt: I think we have to distinguish between fun for the maker and fun for the reader. This may be a case more of the former.