

Standards for Scientific Graphic Presentation - JohnHammersley
http://www.juretriglav.si/standards-for-graphic-presentation/

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forkandwait
My two go-to theorists for data presentation:

William Cleveland:
[http://www.stat.purdue.edu/~wsc/](http://www.stat.purdue.edu/~wsc/)

Jacques Bertin:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Bertin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Bertin)

Blog post was cool, especially to hear about the systematization of subway
graphics, but if you say "scientific graphic" you have to read those guys
immediately. (And the person whose name begins with "T" is a bit overrated in
my estimation).

~~~
s_kanev
My go-to practitioner: Jean-luc Doumont:
[http://www.principiae.be/X0302.php](http://www.principiae.be/X0302.php) I
highly recommend his talks (he tours universities in the US quite often) --
they are full of small practical nuggets on data presentation.

~~~
juretriglav
Wow! Great reference and lots of material to study. He too would be perfect on
a new presentation standardization working group. I have to say that since
this post has gone live, I've gotten so many great references, just shows a
lot of very smart people thought about this problem - it would be fantastic to
connect them all somehow.

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ultimape
Here's a really inspirational video to get you excited:
[http://vimeo.com/73643542](http://vimeo.com/73643542)

I'm a big fan of showing Bret Victor's breakdown of a messy and wordy
scientific article into an interactive and easy to understand version:
[http://worrydream.com/ScientificCommunicationAsSequentialArt...](http://worrydream.com/ScientificCommunicationAsSequentialArt/)

It plays off his much larger notion of changing the way we present what we do.
His collection of talks on vimeo do a great job at detailing things if you
have the time.

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b_emery
Since the author of the post is here, I'll note that I can see the missing
references in the worldcat.org database - in book form. I think these links
will work, though they might screen by IP:

[http://ucsb.worldcat.org/oclc/6441789](http://ucsb.worldcat.org/oclc/6441789)

[http://ucsb.worldcat.org/oclc/7164016](http://ucsb.worldcat.org/oclc/7164016)

[http://ucsb.worldcat.org/oclc/2270071](http://ucsb.worldcat.org/oclc/2270071)

Perhaps some colleagues at UCSF can help you get them with an inter-library
loan? Thanks for the great post.

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peter303
Edward Tufte is considered the guru on the subject. His primary principle is
to minimize the ratio of ink to data points. That doesnt preclude artistic
creativity as long as it increases clarity.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Tufte's work, at least as he presents it in his books, is a bit extravagant.
It is hard for me to extract practical advice and ideas for data
visualization.

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craigyk
So many things to fix in science this doesn't even make my top 5. Anyways,
deciding how to show data is a great avenue for scientists to expose their
inner artist. I wish more papers and presentation took pride in how well they
read, how pretty the figures are, etc.

When we have finally made all public research freely accessible and reduced
the perverse gaming incentives involved in publications and grants, then maybe
we should tackle standardization of graphics.

~~~
juretriglav
Absolutely agree that many things are broken in science, but you do realize
that progress can be asynchronous? Otherwise my top 1 problem to fix would be
war.

~~~
jcr
juretriglav, speaking of problems to fix, I've found at least one the missing
books that you're looking for, but unfortunately, it's not a freely
downloadable or online version. I have also found a lot of useful information,
but I'm still sifting and organizing it.

To start off with, the "American Standards Association" otherwise known by the
acronym "ASA" is the old name of the organization now known as "American
National Standards Institute" ("ANSI"). They changed their name in 1966 (I
think), but it's impossible to retroactively change every occurrence of the
name, and some prefer one or the other, so let's just say standards are seldom
standardized.

The "American Society of Mechanical Engineers" ("ASME") is just one of many
organizations that have worked with ANSI/ASA. It was ASME which originally
worked on the standards you mentioned.

The 1936 book you mentioned was tough to find since it does not have a
standard number, and I think this indicates the time before ASA started
creating and using standard numbers.

Title: "Code of Preferred Practice for Graphic Presentation: Time Series
Charts"

[http://books.google.com/books/about/Code_of_Preferred_Practi...](http://books.google.com/books/about/Code_of_Preferred_Practice_for_Graphic_P.html?id=OZ3QHAAACAAJ)

Libraries [http://www.worldcat.org/title/code-of-preferred-practice-
for...](http://www.worldcat.org/title/code-of-preferred-practice-for-graphic-
presentation-time-series-charts/oclc/7164016)

I'm fairly sure that's the 1936 book you wanted due to the notes here:

[http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1850233](http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1850233)

    
    
      ASA, Z15.2--1938
      "This manual represents a rather comprehensive revision of the material
      issued in April, 1936, under the title, 'Code of preferred practice for
      graphic presentation--time-series charts'."--Foreword.
    

The above is, the 1938 version you already have. I'll post the other info as
soon as I get it sorted.

~~~
juretriglav
Thanks for the effort, jcr! I know about the evolution/history of ASME, ASA
and ANSI, but like you, it hasn’t helped me locate copies.

For the 1979 version, it’s possible to purchase it online through the IHS.com
store,
[https://global.ihs.com/doc_detail.cfm?&item_s_key=00009858&i...](https://global.ihs.com/doc_detail.cfm?&item_s_key=00009858&item_key_date=131230&input_doc_number=y15%2E2m&input_doc_title=)
and I was really close to purchasing it, but decided instead to give it a few
more days, maybe someone has access to it in a library or something.

If we can't find it anywhere in the next week or so, I'll just order it (100
USD with shipping).

Again, thank you very much for your effort!

