IBM公司沃森分析团队最近发布了一版免费的电子书，书名为《大数据让你兴奋的23个理由》，此书分析了大数据的趋势，整理了大数据的实践应用并对大数据未来发展做出了预测
非常有幸我作为数据可视化专家也参与到了这本书的创作，其他所有IBM公司沃森分析应用团队也都对此书做出了贡献
近年来，“大数据”已经成为人们常挂在嘴边的热词
这个名词本身并不新鲜——自从二十世纪五十年代起商界就开始收集并分析数据，之后人们才把“大”和“数据”连在一起组成一个新词
回想过去，人们都是很辛苦的盯着一大堆数据表，用人眼扫过一行行的数据，以期发现趋势，洞察真相
此后，专业人士们各自为战，利用数据做了很多的事情，使得新的方案层出不穷
自助式的大众化数据分析前景很广阔，发展速度也不容小觑，但是同时也会有乌云遮望眼的情况
数据可视化在数据分析领域有着非常重要的意义，可以帮助人们洞察信息并方便我们与他人交换信息
我非常乐于帮助大家了解数据可视化的重要性以下是我在这本电子书中写作的内容概要： 人类都是视觉动物
我们能够非常快速的处理图像信息，记住图像信息的速度是文字信息的6.5倍
所以我们运用可视化来帮助受众理解数据传达出的信息，并在做某些决定或发生某种行为时产生一定的影响
数据可视化是一种语境语言
当你设计一种可视化图像，并将你想传达的信息置于这个语境中时，人们对你的信息的理解会更进一步
可视化的形式多种多样，可以是时间轴上分散的数据点，也可以是你的数据和其他相关数据的比较，这样观众就能看到你的数据是如何融合进整体框架的
运用数据讲故事绝不是表格设计那么简单，它是和别人交流并从交流（数据）中获取信息的一种艺术
——兰迪·克鲁姆 英文原文 23 Reasons to Get Excited About Data (Free eBook) RANDY | MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2016 AT 10:36AM PERMALINK The team at IBM Watson Analytics has released a free, new eBook 23 Reasons to Get Excited About Data that explores the latest trends, practical applications and predictions about big data. I’m honored to have been included in the book as an expert on data visualization, along with all of the other IBM Watson Analytics applications! These days, everyone’s tossing around the term “big data.” The term is nothing new – businesses have been collecting and analyzing data since the 1950s, before the two words were ever even uttered. Take a look back in time and you’re likely to see someone laboriously poring over a sheaf of spreadsheets, manually going through row after row to identify trends and gain insights. More people are doing more things – personally and professionally – with data, and best practices will continue to develop. Self-serve, more democratized data analytics will Get Bigger, Get Faster and Get Cloudier! I participated in an IBM video series about big data and visualization that you can see HERE. Data visualization is such an important conponent for humans to the analyze data, discover insights and communicate our findings to others! I’m very passionate about helping people understand how important data visualization truly is! Here are a couple of the thoughts I contributed to the ebook: Humans are visual creatures. We can process visual information extremely fast, and are 6.5 times more likely to remember visual information than text. These are incredibly important facts when you are trying to communicate data to others. Use data visualizations to help your audience understand your information, and remember it later when it could influence their decisions or behavior. – Randy Krum Data visualization is a language of context. You dramatically improve comprehension of your data when you design a visualization that puts your data into context for the audience. This can be a series of data points over time, or comparing your data to reference data to give the audience the perspective of how your data fits into a bigger picture. Storytelling with data is more than designing a chart, it’s the art of communicating specific insights from your data. – Randy Krum Are you doing everything you could with your data? The future of data, along with predictive analytics and data visualization, is very exciting! Grab the free ebook now! 翻译：灯塔大数据 点击 阅读原文 了解更多详情