Hello - First meeting on April 21st at 6pm

[Alark Joshi]

Hello Data Visualization Enthusiasts,

Welcome to the Boise Data Visualization Group!! It is great to see a
good number of individuals interested in data visualization in the
Boise area.

As regards our first meeting, I am trying to finalize on a venue. The
date will be April 21st and the time will be around 6pm-7pm, unless I
hear from enough members that we would like to the move the time up or
down. As of now, both the venues I am looking at are at Boise State
University. I want to minimize the cost associated with parking and so
am trying to figure out whether we can get free parking somewhere. If
your office/work place has a conference that is available on that day
and is big enough to accommodate around 15 people, please send me an
email.

In the meanwhile, enjoy this discussion on Eagereyes.org regarding the
value of Pie Charts. To give you some background, Pie charts have been
historically trashed for being difficult for comparison purposes since
our visual system cannot accurately perceive areas as compared to
lengths (bar charts). This article actually talks about its benefits
and so is getting some buzz today on BoingBoing too. Check it out at
http://eagereyes.org/criticism/in-defense-of-pie-charts

I shall let you know about the venue soon in another email. Thanks.

Regards,

Alark Joshi

Assistant Professor, Computer Science
Boise State University
1910 University Drive, MEC 302A
Boise, ID 83725-2075
phone: (208) 426-5734
fax: (208) 426-2470
e-mail: alark...@boisestate.edu

[Jeremy Zerr]

Alark,

Thanks for working on getting the group together for our first meeting.  I would definitely be able to attend most of the meeting if it started at 6pm, I say most because I have a gathering at church that night at 7pm.

And regarding pie charts, while working for St. Luke's Hospital, I can say that pie charts are the most loved graphic representation of data, but that is mainly by folks not comfortable with data or who are impressed more by colors than by information.  I had the pie chart argument with my boss before, but did not come out on top.  Looks like there really was no reason for me to do so anyways, very interesting, thanks for passing it along.

Thanks,

Jeremy Zerr