When communicating information, graphs, charts & other visual representation

s can be useful tools to help relate concepts; they are often even necessary, wh
en dealing with particularly complex ideas. can help a viewer abstract
complex information and specific concepts. While
the use of graphical data representations is somewhat recent, it has quickly be
come commonplace in contemporary society, and in all sorts of contexts; includin
g casual, commercial, and even academic.
Background
The popularity of graphis is relatively rece
nt, mainly for two resons. Most information could generally be conveyed through
conventional methods (raw data, tables, etc) throughout history. However, with a
dvancing technology, growing
populations, and the increasing overall amount o
f knowledge in recent years has caused information to become incomprehensible th
rough these conventional means. The difficulty of communicating abstract concept
s has grown drastically, over a short period
of time. Additionally, the types of information
& concepts being conveyed has also grown in variety, leading to multitudes of me
thods for graphings.
The general paradigm about what a graph is h
as typically been that graphs are thought of simply as aids for understanding in
formation conveyed through tables and prose. However, graphs the potential be mu
ch more than this. Instead
of being simply aids, better understand of conve
ying information visually could allow graphs to be a primary means of conveying
information.

The Problem
Too many graphs either poorly represent the
information they assert they are communicating, or even outright display false i
nformation. This can cause a number of problems, such as propagating misconcepti
ons, expressing misleading
information, and just overall creating inefficie
ncy due to the amount of time it takes to interpret a "bad" graph

The Significance:
The general paradigm about what a graph is h
as typically been that graphs are thought of simply as aids for understanding in
formation conveyed through tables and prose. However, graphs the potential be mu
ch more than this. Instead
of being simply aids, better understand of conve
ying information visually could allow graphs to be a primary means of conveying
information.
However, the status quo for visual informati
on not only fails to achieve this; it also generally fails to achieve the primit
ive purpose of graphs (as aids). A large majority of visual information represen
tations are misleading
and/or downright inaccurate graphs, causing a nu
mber of issues; these problems are generally of three categories.
<ul>

<li>propagation of misinformation or dis

torted data (primarily when dealing with qualitative information)</li>
<li>overhead/inefficiency caused by addi
tional time and resources required to interpret a bad graph</li>
<li>Conclusions being derived that are o
utright incorrect</li>

The Purpose of This Paper:

The purpose of this paper is to understand w
hat makes graphs semiotically inefficient, and how they can be improved. To a li
mited extent, this paper will also deal with the negative repercussions of bad g
raphs. Additionally, it
will examine the causes of bad graphs, with the
assumption that they are either the result of ulterior motives, or simply poor u
nderstanding of graph theory.
This paper will also deal with differentiating "
illustrations" from "graphs".
It should also be noted that much of what is ass
erted in this paper is based off of the claims & works of the Yale-Graduate and
Presidentially appointed Edward Tufte, who is considered by many to be a pioneer
in the field of graphical representation.