Counting Servers
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Comments posted to this topic are about the item Counting Servers
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Data visualization is an area that is growing dramatically right now. I think it will be exploding in just a few years. I wouldn't be surprised to see it become a data management and reporting sub specialty. You are right, at the very least, many of us should add this to our skill set to keep up, and maybe be in the right place at the right time.
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One word of caution - there are lots of great Data Visualization tools out there, but it's important that we all learn to use them correctly!
Some great resources for data visualization include "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" by Edward Tufte, and "Show me the Numbers" and "Information Dashboard Design" by Stephen Few. I was very lucky to be able to attend a three day seminar given by Stephen Few last fall, and it was a real eye-opener. Tufte and Few's books are very easy reads, and they really get to the heart of the current problems with visual displays, and how to make them better. Tufte also worked as a consultant for the White House to help create effective displays explaining where all of the stimulus dollars are going.
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Relevant to the topic - a useful and fun file utility is WinDirStat. It's also really great example of displaying file space by single-file and by folder hierarchy, of where your hard drive space is going, and where you might recover it.
Mike Hinds Lead Database Administrator1st Source BankMCP, MCTS
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Gazumped ! I was going to say SequoiaView for hard drive display - always helps me hunt down what's taking up the Gigs.
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Data visualization seems to be a business buzz right now. It seems people prefer pretty colors and pictures to make quick decisions.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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CirquedeSQLeil (8/6/2010)
Data visualization seems to be a business buzz right now. It seems people prefer pretty colors and pictures to make quick decisions.Jason brings up an interesting point - the business buzz indicates a trend toward data visualization. But, we have to be mindful of what visualization of data is - it's not pretty pictures and colors. In fact, pictures and colors for their own sake don't save anyone time during decision making. But, done the right way, an effective graphic display of data will beat a simple grid view every time. I believe this is more than just buzz - companies that make use of simple graphics to convey trends, indicate outliers, and point out areas of improvement or opportunity are going to beat out their competitors in the long run. Just for fun, check out the following quiz - it only takes a minute, but it makes the point: http://www.perceptualedge.com/files/GraphDesignIQ.html
The thing I worry about - and I see it all the time at company meetings - is that people throw together fancy pictures with lots of color and gadgets that actually undermine and distract from the points they're trying to make with the numbers! Correct me if I'm wrong, Jason, but I'll bet your comment was based on some pretty unconvincing graphics that someone has forced upon you at one time or another. 🙂
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