Author: Tim Harford
Publisher: Tim Harford (Personal Website)
Publication Year: 2021
Summary: The following article discusses how Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, famously used data visualization to communicate the impact of the Sanitary Commission’s work on the medical outcomes of soldiers. Although her thinking about sanitation was largely correct, her choice to use a rose diagram was somewhat unbecoming. The diagram divides health outcomes into 2 groups: before and after the arrival of the Sanitary Commission. The diagram does not express, however, significant external factors that also led to better outcomes for the second group. Humans take just 500ms to form an impression of an infographic, so there’s a responsibility — especially with regard to health information — for the visuals to honestly capture the underlying data.