India !! One of the fastest developing nations! The nation is growing they say, an ever growing progress rate is seen they say, we are reaching places they say, less conservative and more open they say ….and yet the women here are unsafe in their very own motherland. Its a man’s world indeed ! “Save the girl child” is the motto for the anti-female foeticide/infanticide campaign ,and they saved her or did they?
Women are subjected to violence on a daily basis. Not only do they fear getting out due to eve teasing, molestation, assault, acid attacks , but also the horror of domestic violence shatter their soul. The above graph tells us how the women in each state of India are treated. It gives us the percentage of domestic violence , minor , severe violence and sexual violence. It tells us the sob tale of India’s Daughter.
The Chart definitely shows us that the author is here to spread her word, she has done her research and wants to share it with the world in the hope for a better tomorrow. The intent and motive truly inspires me however the visualisation fails to do so. The data visualisation must tell us a story , it must be the picture that is worth a thousand words but instead the chart in itself feels like a thousand words. A bar chart is a simple way to showcase a point but when the criteria and data exceeds a limit it becomes task to read and interpret the story causing a loss of audience.
Today Data visualisation is seen as a form of art and by the looks of the graph the author is definitely no artist. The looks isn’t appealing and the overflow of data strains the viewers eyes. The colour selection also fails to impress when using distinct colours was the least that could be done. The order in which the states are placed in the x-axis got me puzzled, its isn’t is ascending or descending order of its location(ex.north to south) or its status of development or anything. It seems to be placed in descending order of the violence by the husbands, leaving the other causes scattered all over the place. Clearly aesthetics doesn’t exist here so lets check on the objective dimensions.
The chart does tell us its description : Violence against women in Indian States, although it fails to answer us when did this story occur? What year is this data from? Is it recent or old? Leaving the audience wonder is this India now or way back in history. The graph will explain you how women faced violence, was is domestic, sexual, minor or severe. And while no chart or form of visualisation can help us explain why India, a country where they worship multiple Goddess’, fail treat their women right, this visualisation doesn’t help the audience make any prediction either. For example , does this have a trend or pattern, which parts of the country do the women suffer more, is the south safer than the north? So with the available data if i were to portray the story I would simply map it. Below is the link to my recreation:
https://public.tableau.com/views/ViolenceonWomenIndia/Sheet4?:embed=y&:display_count=yes
Using the filled map feature that tableau provides we can highlight the region where the violence percentage is high giving us an idea as to what is happening where. It doesn’t overload us with data at the same time doesn’t hide any of it, hovering over the states will give us the stats for the same. This way we can put light to whats important while still including all the data. Also this way of visualising the data reveals that the south, west and extreme north provides a better environment for women while women in the mid, north and east still need help. It is perfect to spread awareness and call for help, showing us the states coloured with the blood of these women.
I would like to conclude this by saying that intent, motive, research, data are not enough to spread the word. You need to catch the eye of your audience and thats when aesthetics comes to the rescue. Saying that make sure your visualisation is truthful, functional, beautiful yet insightful and enlightening. Master the art of data visualisation and your story will spread across like fire in a hay farm.
Graph picked from Article : http://www.ideasforindia.in/article.aspx?article_id=105