The Importance of Statistical Representation

Their archive retrieval system seems to be down for the moment. For an excellent counterpart in paper, see Edward R. Tufte's "The Cognitive Deficiencies of PowerPoint"; it's a hoot.

Here is the website for good interactive statistical graphs....

http://www.gapminder.org/

Health and wealth....

http://www.gapminder.org/world/#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=30;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=5.59290322580644;ti=2012$zpv;v=0$inc_x;

That one worked. This Hans Rosling guy is a great speaker who really brings the numbers to life. Excellent find.

I don't think that it paints an accurate picture.

He specifically mentions the AIDS epidemic. It seems to me that millions of deaths artificially skewed the numbers in subsequent years, making it look like life expectancy went up, when in fact, lots of sick people were simply eliminated from the equation when they died.

Nothing wrong with averaging, but it doesn't prove that smaller families live longer, and larger families die sooner.

I would attribute longer life spans, to AIDS awareness, access to modern medical practices, access to better farming methods, clean water, etc. He uses only one parameter, (smaller families), and says that it leads to longer lives. Incomplete data!

It sounds to me like he's attempting to make the case, that birth control leads to longer lives. I think that's a very questionable assertion.

What a surprise that you would misinterpret even the most detailed representation....

http://www.gapminder.org/data/

Yep. I was wrong about one thing...he said that the AIDS epidemic lowered life expectancy in Africa.

Everything his model shows, is based on a single criteria, which is fertility.

He should get a job running computer models for the IPCC. He has shown how opinions can be swayed by using a single data set.

The data show that life expectancy increases with wealth, and that wealth increases with free markets....and with wealth comes better health care, education and all the other things you have mentioned....I don't see that fertility is a data point at all....

Really?

Go to the 3:11 mark. It's also in big letters on the bottom of his screen.

Normally, I like TED talks, but I became wary when this guy started his presentation by telling the audience how stupid, another group of people were. A perfect candidate for a Nobel Peace prize on GW.

I didn't watch it to the bitter end. Was he actually making fools of the audience, and demonstrating how data and computers models can be manipulated to lead people to any conclusion you want, based on the input?

Are you talking about

This guy...?

"Rosling's presentations are grounded in solid statistics (often drawn from United Nations data), illustrated by the visualization software he developed. The animations transform development statistics into moving bubbles and flowing curves that make global trends clear, intuitive and even playful. During his legendary presentations, Rosling takes this one step farther, narrating the animations with a sportscaster's flair.

Rosling developed the breakthrough software behind his visualizations through his nonprofit Gapminder, founded with his son and daughter-in-law. The free software - which can be loaded with any data - was purchased by Google in March 2007. (Rosling met the Google founders at TED.)

Rosling began his wide-ranging career as a physician, spending many years in rural Africa tracking a rare paralytic disease (which he named konzo) and discovering its cause: hunger and badly processed cassava. He co-founded Médecins sans Frontièrs (Doctors without Borders) Sweden, wrote a textbook on global health, and as a professor at the Karolinska Institut in Stockholm initiated key international research collaborations. He's also personally argued with many heads of state, including Fidel Castro."

Easily one of the greatest humanitarians in the world today....That was said by me....

Ah...that explains it. UN data.

Maybe a great humanitarian, but no expert on data.

He could have moved his magical little balls around by entering the number of sunny vs cloudy days.

I'm sure he's a great guy, and he certainly wouldn't be the first, to be both confused, and absolutely convinced, that he is right, through collaboration with the UN.

"He could have moved his magical little balls around by entering the number of sunny vs cloudy days."

You can actually do this yourself by entering the data you chose in the free software format provided....It's about providing a more comprehensible format....

If it was an advertisement for the software, he shouldn't have made the pronouncement about human fertility, (alone), and life expectancy.

Yeah, the software is cool. He seemed to be trying to make a point that went beyond that.

Should I accept this as fact?

I have shown that Swedish top students know statistically significantly less about the world than the chimpanzees. - Hans Rosling

Okay. Apology due.

I stopped watching after the fertility segment.

He's making a case that I totally agree with.

Sorry.

He probably isn't happy about the BBC article highlighting his joking diss on the Swedes, by displaying it so prominently at the top.

It colored my opinion of the entire presentatation.

Well I think the answers used as an example would be universal in the developed world....but as he points out, things have changed over the years....by sliding through the years with the graphs provided, you can see the trends clearly...I think it's a great teaching tool, and a valuable research resource.....as changes take place in the governance of a country, the results can be clearly seen, whether the changes were good for the people or not....being able to plug in all sorts of data can yield information that can aid in improving the quality of life everywhere.....Now all this information may have been available before but this format I believe makes it much more comprehensible....and the easier we can make crunching numbers, the better...

No doubt. I looked at the download page, and it contains 500 individual sets of data.

I wonder if I could input my own charts, specific to the US, and starting about the time of the New Deal?

Thankyou SolarEagle for the exposure to this TED presentation and the many points behind it all. I do appreciate the presenters offered by TED and their mind stretching concepts .... it is a bad day when you don't learn something!

The presentation systems are excellent.
The ideas in this particular presentation are worth thinking about.
One should also be careful about preconceptions that they do not colour your thinking.

not accessible from the UK

I use this to overcome access restrictions:

http://download.cnet.com/Tor-Browser-Bundle/3000-2356_4-75660251.html

Yay !! Good old BBC ! I thought paying a licence gave me access to all BBC services, but no, so, thanks kramarat for the tip.

Here's the BBC words on the matter:

We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC, the profits made from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes. You can find out more about BBC Worldwide and its digital activities at www.bbcworldwide.com.

Unbelievable!!!!