Wow! Isn't it amazing how you can take otherwise "boring" numerical values and transform them into something with such incredible visual impact? I watched this video on Monday and on Tuesday morning immediately showed it to my boss. She had the exact same reaction, completely mesmerized by the moving bubbles.
For a long time, she and I have had discussions about how properly visually displaying information (whether in our annual report, our mobile apps, in a presentation to city council, a leisure ad in Texas etc), makes all of the difference in the world. Dr. Rosling expertly exhibited that point. As he says, the data exists, the real trick and magic is getting it aggregated and displaying it in a way that is meaningful and easy for people to digest. Clearly, once you make that connection the usefulness becomes so much greater.
Without Dr. Rosling's displays, it would be incredibly difficult to really understand the shifting trends in international health without countless hours of mind numbing study. His insights about the differences between various countries in Africa and the shift of previously impoverished nations to a more stable medical future are important for world citizens, nations and health organizations. Often it is incredibly easy to lump groups of people together for sake of mental simplicity. Dr. Rosling highlighted that this act is actually a disservice to humankind and doesn't allow the world to properly address issues that affect health trends.
Similarly in business, if you lump too many groups together you start to lose important segmentation that might make you more successful in the long run. By visual displaying data appropriately, more people can join the discussion on segmentation and the proper way to serve different markets.
I hope you got to the see the additional video from Dr. Rosling when he goes old school on his data display.
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