Data Viz Today

47: Charts Can Lie, But Here's How You Remain Vigilant - Featuring Alberto Cairo


Listen Later

It's no secret that some charts lie. You might be thinking that only a subset of people who maliciously create a chart to serve their interests are guilty of this, but the truth is, there are many ways in which a chart can lie.

You can make a mistake in your design, or use data that's insufficient, or make conclusions that aren't accurate. I'm guilty of this, and guess what… so is Alberto Cairo! He wrote a whole book on How Charts Lie based on his experience creating and reading charts.

In this episode, I finally got to ask Alberto's opinion on some burning questions that I have, like

  • how he personally reads charts to assess their quality,
  • how he'd structure a graphics team today to make sure they create quality graphics, and
  • where he thinks we'll be fighting misinformation in the coming years.
  • Most importantly, he explains why we shouldn't throw up our hands and give up on charts even when some mislead us.

Show Notes

Alberto's book How Charts Lie

Follow Alberto on Twitter

Follow Data Viz Today on Twitter

Follow Katherine Mellow on Twitter

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Data Viz TodayBy Alli Torban

  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5

5

83 ratings


More shows like Data Viz Today

View all
Freakonomics Radio by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Freakonomics Radio

32,143 Listeners

Planet Money by NPR

Planet Money

30,678 Listeners

99% Invisible by Roman Mars

99% Invisible

26,209 Listeners

More or Less by BBC Radio 4

More or Less

878 Listeners

The PolicyViz Podcast by The PolicyViz Podcast

The PolicyViz Podcast

54 Listeners

Super Data Science: ML & AI Podcast with Jon Krohn by Jon Krohn

Super Data Science: ML & AI Podcast with Jon Krohn

303 Listeners

Lovett or Leave It by Crooked Media

Lovett or Leave It

25,109 Listeners

storytelling with data podcast by storytelling with data

storytelling with data podcast

112 Listeners

DataFramed by DataCamp

DataFramed

268 Listeners

Today, Explained by Vox

Today, Explained

10,271 Listeners

Today in Focus by The Guardian

Today in Focus

981 Listeners

People I (Mostly) Admire by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

People I (Mostly) Admire

2,110 Listeners

Hard Fork by The New York Times

Hard Fork

5,473 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

16,053 Listeners

Plain English with Derek Thompson by The Ringer

Plain English with Derek Thompson

2,288 Listeners