Data: Using Graphs and Visual Data

OK, this is my shot at what we're supposed to be doing. I've only had a chance to read the first article but I don't want to read the rest yet in case this is not the type of response you are looking for. I've made this very informal and am using the blog as sort of a reflection area trying to answer Basil's question about what was more effective about reading the article online or what we did in class. Alright, here we go...

I think the article was a bit simplistic for our class. I liked the first chapters of Huff better. If I were to add some of this material to class I would definitely talk about the enormous numbers of graphs and diagrams found in scientific journals as well as in mass media (perhaps you could refer to the process of peer review here and scientific integrity) Following that I would ask the class what famous scientific drawings/graphs they can think of and if those were an effective way to keep the knowledge alive and vibrant (ie CO2 in Hawaii and DaVinci etc.) You could have a v. short discussion on the merit of diagrams and their ability to show data but most students would probably come to similar conclusions. I would then give them the graph of Monckton and other examples from the Huff book and ask them to look at why the data set is skewed. If they weren't reading Huff I would definitely tie in those examples as well. 

I've always wondered about satellite images but I feel like that info and the stuff about light was a little unnecessary. The article was fairly interesting but I think their approach overall was not as exciting and was a bit too simple for our class. 

That's all I've got. What do you think?