The State of Information Visualization, 2013

Well, the world hasn’t ended, so here’s a look back at what happened in visualization in 2012, and a look ahead in case the world is still around a year from now.

Last year was an exciting one, at least for me. First I started my sabbatical year at Tableau, then I decided to stay there. I went to SxSW and Malofiej. I met a lot of smart people.

2012 was the year visualization in the news took off. Forget Flash and slideshows, the real breakthrough has been D3 and its developer and champion, Mike Bostock. Alberto Cairo also published his book, and is teaching thousands of people how to turn data into interesting stories.

And you know who called it a year ago? Hm? Who? That’s right, this guy:

If you don’t believe that data journalism will be big in 2012, I have one word for you: U.S. Presidential Elections. Polls, primaries, more polls, ads, counter-ads, and then election night.

The New York Times, which used to hide its interactive pieces online, has posted a collection of the amazing work they did in 2012, including such pieces as 512 Paths to the White House. Since Mike Bostock works there now, many of them were done in D3.

This marks a sea change not only in terms of interactivity on the web, but in how newspapers are starting to approach the issue of browser support. Rather than play [...]