Lately I’ve been seeing a ton of new data visualization tools/experiments that I thought were worth sharing. One is not really applicable to web analytics or reporting, but others are.

Trendly

I saw a post about Trendly on the Google Analytics Blog, its an application that leverages GA data to display it in a way that is supposed to help you understand the data better. From what I can tell, they use statistically significant numbers (between the upper and lower control) to show a trend-line that is less jagged and crazy. I think that is helpful for noting the big picture of change over a longer time span, but less so if you want to do a deep dive. Which might be besides the point. And then their other graph shows time vertically (I’ve always had issues with that metaphor), and the percentage of traffic from that source correlates to thickness. Its easier to show than tell so here it is:

Trendly time graph

Darwin’s Origin of Species

This is the English major in me geeking out, but I think this changing textual visualization by Ben Fry (go to the site to see it in action) is a great way to show how different editions of an important book like this can change. I’d like to see it for Lyrical Ballads. This is from the information aesthetics blog again, but I think its cool.

Darwin visualization

California Stimulus Map

I should probably find some more data visualization blogs, but I like the information aesthetics finds so much. This interactive map by Stamen Design shows where stimulus money is being spent in California, and what kinds of projects it goes to. The subject matter is worthwhile, but mainly I liked the vertical graph on the right side, I find that visualization easier to duplicate (in Excel!) and translate to different data sets than the one in Trendly. I will try to sneak it into a report at some point, and I’m sure I will get a WTF reaction, but it would be more interesting than the standard Excel graphs for me and the reader.

CA stimulus map

Otherwise I am having fun with my new G1 phone, new running shoes, and I’m going to Arizona this weekend–good times! Hoping to get some hiking in if it is not over 100° outside.

Yay for alliterative titles. As I watch the new season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, I also have to think about a web analytics reporting challenge.

Imagine you have a large, complex website with data pulls for monthly scorecards/dashboards, but the stakeholders viewing the scorecard have diverse, possibly mutually exclusive interests. For instance, one stakeholder might want to look at visitors to one section of the site, and another only wants to see the number of downloads for a different section. And you have to create one scorecard (for some reason I was just reminded of LOTR “one ring to rule them all”) to make everyone moderately happy.

Do I argue for creating more specialized scorecards or try to make a one-size-fits-all report? If I do choose the 2^nd option, do I try to include basic traffic reports along with a few more specialized metrics? I could also make the executive decision that a metric like average time on site is a metric that will not lead to actionable insights, and replace it with one of the stakeholder’s ideal metrics. Probably no one will be 100% happy but we’ll see how it goes. I’m open to suggestions.

Here’s the latest cool data visualization found on information aesthetics that shows a tool leveraging media aggregation and overlaying it on a map of New Orleans. Pretty cool, but kind of confusing. I’m also looking for data visualization tools (free and online accessible preferably) to try out with my own data sources–any recommendations?

Citymurmur New Orleans

Seattle finally cooled down, which is nice because I have a gross bruise on my leg from soccer that no one should be able to see.  Also I’m excited for Web Analytics Wednesday this week!

I’m really tired so this will be the quick and dirty version as my geometry teacher used to say.  Today was a really long, but really productive day from a personal and work perspective.  I will summarize below.

1. First group lunch with a bunch of people from the analytics team. Really fun hanging out and I got to have dim sum, which leads to…
2. First time successfully using chopsticks! I seriously failed at this all my life until today and then I just randomly got the hang of it.
3. Finally put into practice what I preach, and created a wireframe (in PPT) of a scorecard based on what I thought would be a good layout. I tried to include the top KPIs in a prominent location, visual representations of the data, and a clean and simple layout that I think reflects the whole “people read along the lines of the letter ‘F’” thing. Then once I got manager approval I created a more hi-fi representation in Excel. I think its ultimately a time saver like sketching is in UX, if its a wireframe, people aren’t going to ask me to change every box line and color, and will pay more attention to the organization and structure.
4. Got to play with making advanced segments in Google Analytics for social media. Will probably post more on that at a later date.
5. First time eating cocktail buns, which sadly, do not contain alcohol.
6. Rode on the new Seattle light rail in the tunnel. It was very fast, clean, and convenient! Now if only it went to more useful places…

Now I just want to sleep, but I am moving this weekend, so I must pack instead. And tomorrow is the first day at Microsoft (due to bosses being on vacation forever), and game #2 for FC ZAAZ 99!

The reason I keep posting about data visualization is not just because I think these things are pretty or interesting, but I think the things you learn about data visualization are directly applicable to reporting in web analytics. People are always decrying the “data puke”, and I’ve seen scorecards that range from Windows 95 looking spreadsheet to graphic designer Excel masterpiece. I am hoping to end up somewhere in the happy medium, where you marry design with data in a way that it helps show the reader what is important and what is actionable.

Definition: A scorecard is a visual display of the most important information needed to achieve one or more objectives, consolidated and arranged on a single screen so the information can be monitored at a glance. Unlike dashboards that display actual values of metrics, scorecards typically display the gap between actual and target values for a smaller number of key performance indicators.

I don’t think Excel was originally envisioned as an application where form matters as much as function, but I’m trying to learn how to manipulate spreadsheets to make them look more attractive. I haven’t found many resources yet on how to do this, but already I see parallels to web design/graphic design. A scorecard is a visual presentation similar to a page in a magazine or a book–maybe it would be useful to take a page from that field and create mock-ups/wireframes in Adobe InDesign or Illustrator before you just start throwing data in?

This would require taking the time to learn the program (which is not going to happen for most), but I do think its worth thinking about it from a designer or information architect’s point of view. For instance, how do people read things online? They scan web pages in a F-format generally, put the most important things along that F shape if you’re sending an online copy of the scorecard. Maybe its too much effort put into something that you just have to get done and not fixate on design, but the designer in me thinks that creating a well-designed scorecard and consciously thinking about how the audience will read it (user-centered design), might help the client understand and agree with you.

I think Shane Atchison might disagree slightly with me. Am I completely right/wrong? Let me know.

In my last few days at the Burke Museum, I’ve been tasked with doing anything web analytics possible until I leave.  There’s so much more I wanted to accomplish in terms of figuring out goals for the site and assessing who our users are, but hopefully web analytics won’t get tossed aside forever after I’m gone.

We’ve already done overall assessments and reports on site metrics, so I’ve been trying to figure out actions they can take that will be easy to code and maintain.  Dealing with user engagement is the biggest issue so far, especially because measuring it is difficult and open to interpretation. If they at least attempt to address engaging and interacting with our users, I will die happy.

Average Time Graph

I’ve also focused on looking at things that we redesigned recently to track their performance since they went live.  I’m totally a nerd and I got really into how we could track conversions for the Education sub-site, and how we could better market them for next year.  Common conversions for an e-commerce site might be how many people get to a confirmation page after buying something, but for an informative site like the Burke Museum, its more difficult to decide what counts as a user that basically “did what we want them to do.”  Also, the charts I put in the reports are very pretty.

Mainly I’ve just been producing reports that I’m not sure anyone has the time or interest in reading, but what else is there to do when I’m going to be gone soon? I should think of something more creative. They might not read a report, but they will always remember a dirty limerick on web analytics.

…and in other news Michael Jackson died?? Sad times.