Tufte Gone Wild ™: Debate Graph

And now a new feature of this blog: Tufte Gone Wild ™.*

This refers, as some of you may know, to the work of Edward Tufte, the reigning master of data visualization. He has inspired and taught a generation of designers and journalists to tell stories and explain the world with graphics. Tufte is a cult figure in the field who travels the world hosting seminars for communications professionals, some of whom are regulars, sort of like Deadheads with Photoshop.

And yet: Since Tufte arrived on the scene, graphics have been put in motion, via Flash and other web technologies, raising the bar for visual presentation of data. By inviting users to parse and rearrange information, interactive visualizations have the capacity to teach even more than a “dead” image, invite original understandings and permit users to add and manipulate data. It’s exciting stuff.

And so here on this blog I’ll occasionally nod to interactive visualizations that aspire to Tuftian clarity but have the additional dimension of interactivity.

First up is DebateGraph, a bit plain to look at but a fascinating demonstration of how interactive graphics can explain, and invite participation, in the sort of issue debates that usually are carried out via articles, essays and speeches. It reveals, in ways I haven’t seen before, how ideas relate to each other in a variety of dimensions.

Here’s an example of a graph that explores drivers of the global financial crisis. Note how in this presentation I’ve put “human cognitive biases” at the center. You can choose other ideas as the focus, which then brings in and aligns other ideas that relate to that central concept.

What’s cool here: This tool lets you “see” and engage with ideas, and explore their inter-relationships, very elegantly. Ink-and-paper, or even a dead online graphic, does not invites, or even permit, this kind of thinking. The Debate Graph also invites users to add content and extend the argument.

Current topics include:

• What should Obama do next?
• Climate change
• Intelligent design [is this really a legitimate argument, or a political ruse?]
• Flash vs. Ajax [!]
• To be or not to be [a fun mapping out of Hamlet's existential dilemma]

So far, DebateGraph is mainly used as a publishing platform. It doesn’t appear too many people have used its wiki functions to extend the content.

I hope the project gets some publicity and participation. The idea of “visual” policy arguments deserves some exploration by thinkers professional and amateur.

Even if, in the end, the action doesn’t turn out to be “wild.”

* The ™ is a joke, of course. I suspect I’ll get a cease-and-desist order from Graphics Press LLC, Tufte’s company, very soon. I’ll keep you posted.