{"id":1117,"date":"2016-10-23T18:43:53","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T01:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/?page_id=1117"},"modified":"2016-10-23T18:44:49","modified_gmt":"2016-10-24T01:44:49","slug":"make-an-alluvial-diagram","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/tutorials-guides\/data-visualization\/make-an-alluvial-diagram\/","title":{"rendered":"Make an alluvial diagram"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Hi everyone! I’m really sorry I can’t be there today. I have to be at a meeting in Chicago. But I thought you might enjoy learning how to make a new kind of visualization, called an alluvial diagram. (“Alluvial” means river, and you’ll see why it’s called that.) For our data, we’ll use the answers you gave to the questionnaire I administered on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

This is so easy you hardly need directions! But here they are.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

1. Download our dataset<\/h2>\n
\n

Click here<\/a> to download your questionnaire responses from my Dropbox. (If you have trouble with that link for some reason, just enter bit.ly\/dh101qanda into your browser’s address bar.)<\/p>\n

Open it up and take a look. Do you remember what kind of variables these are? They’re nominal<\/strong> variables (AKA categorical<\/strong> variables) because they’re not in any inherent order and they have no numerical value. Alluvial diagrams are great for nominal data.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"download-our-dataset\"<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

2. Open RAW<\/h2>\n
\n

Open up a browser and go to raw.densitydesign.org<\/a>. This is a drag-and-drop data-visualization platform that’s designed to make it easy to create some of the less commonly used kinds of visualizations, like alluvial diagrams. Go ahead and click on Use it Now<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"open-raw\"<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

3. Drag your data into the box<\/h2>\n
\n

First, figure out where you downloaded the file in Step 1<\/strong>. Then drag it onto the white box. You should then be able to see the data values from the spreadsheet.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> Sometimes RAW gets overwhelmed if too many people are using it at once. If file uploading isn’t working for you, you may have to just look over the shoulder of a friend.<\/p>\n

\"drag-your-data-into-the-box\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

4. Select “Alluvial Diagram”<\/h2>\n
\n

Scroll down to see the various visualization options. Usually, Alluvial Diagram<\/strong> is already selected, but if not, click on it. (While you’re here, check out the other options! They may come in handy later.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"select-alluvial-diagram\"<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

5. Choose some dimensions<\/h2>\n
\n

This will make more sense once you’ve done it. From the left side, grab a green block (anything but Timestamp <\/strong>and Your first name<\/strong>) and drag it into the box labeled Steps<\/strong>. Do that with at least one other block.<\/p>\n

\"choose-some-dimensions\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

6. Expand the width of your visualization<\/h2>\n
\n

Scroll down until you see the Customize your Visualization<\/strong> subhead. Under the Width<\/strong> heading, enter 500. (This means 500 pixels, which is pretty big.)<\/p>\n

\"expand-the-width-of-your-visualization\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

7. Admire your work<\/h2>\n
\n

Scroll down to see the visualization! Innnnteresting. There seems to be a correlation between Dr. Seuss and Beyonc\u00e9…<\/p>\n

Try scrolling up and experimenting with adding more or different dimensions, and see what happens! Try other visualization types, too!<\/p>\n

\"admire-your-work\"<\/a><\/p>\n

8.\u00a0Bonus: Embed your visualization<\/h2>\n

If, later on, you decide you want to embed a RAW visualization on a website, you can just grab the HTML code at the bottom of the page. (Or you can download an image.)<\/p>\n

\"bonus-embed-your-visualization\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi everyone! I’m really sorry I can’t be there today. I have to be at a meeting in Chicago. But I thought you might enjoy learning how to make a … Continue reading “Make an alluvial diagram”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":92,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1117","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1117\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/92"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/miriamposner.com\/classes\/dh101f16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}