A Language Beyond …

Hermann Burger, the so versatile Swiss writer once noted: “To be a writer means to have language beyond death”.
For Hans Rosling (1948-2017), working hard to make statistics not only understandable but also respected and used, this is equally true. Once thanks to his bestseller ‘Factfulness‘ and now also thanks to a newly launched idea: “The Project Rosling”.

Project Rosling

Project Rosling has its origin in the UN World Data Forum in Bern (October 2021) and wants to continue the spririt of this event. The project website paraphrases this as follows: ‘The Project Rosling aims to bridge the gap between the data and statistical community and a diversity of stakeholders to advance data ecosystems and provide the information needed for a fact-based worldview’.

And in even more detail: ‘The Project Rosling follows the Road to Bern, an initiative of the Swiss Confederation that aimed to prepare discussions before the 3rd UN World Data Forum 2021 in Bern and to engage the public in the 2030 Agenda (more information here). Over one and a half years, conferences, debates and activities with the general public created a momentum within the data and statistical community that the Project Rosling will seek to maintain and expand.
As such, it has two aims:
> Expand the data and statistics dialogue
> Deepen knowledge’
(-> go to source)

In memoriam

This meritorious project and its ambitious mission recall and continue what Hans Rosling pursued in his life and what was his interest and project. In an interview in 2013 he expressed himself as follows: ‘My interest is not data, it’s the world. And part of world development you can see in numbers’.

More about Hans Rosling:

Two Years Ago

You Can See in Numbers

Two Years Ago

He was a pioneer and a great inspiration for what public statistics always strives for: more visibility, more understanding and more resonance. Two years ago Hans Rosling (27 July 1948 – 7 February 2017) died too young.

Demanding and enriching was an encounter with Hans Rosling. His demand for public statistics was urgent and a prerequisite for his enlightening work: that statistical data should be open to all. Here he saw successes. It was and is enriching how he conveyed these data combined with a message. With innovative, precise, entertaining and always very personal presentations, he clarified what had happened and what developments could be desired. He was a realist regarding his effectiveness and yet always an optimist ….. better: a “possibilist”. What remains for me is how he taught to see with numbers – a constant challenge for public statistics.

“One little humble advice” he gave to his audience at the end of a presentation in 2013:

On BBC 2013

Full presentation here:  
 DON'T PANIC — Hans Rosling showing the facts about population 

It Goes On

Gapminder (“a fact tank, not a think tank”), with its innovative tools and commitment, continues to live with Anna Rosling Rönnlund and Ola Rosling.

And recently Factfulness, a book by the three (Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund, Ola Rosling) has been published with the subtitle “Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About The World – And Why Things Are Better Than You Think”

“Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts. “

For a fact-based Worldview

Hans Rosling, co-founder and promoter of the Gapminder Foundation and of gapminder.org fights with statistics against myths (‘Our goal is to replace devastating myths with a fact-based worldview.’) and tries to counterbalance media focussing on war, conflicts and chaos.

Here one more example (and this in a media interview…): ‘You can’t use media if you want to understand the world’ (sic!)

And this statement on gapmider.org; ‘Statistical facts don’t come to people naturally. Quite the opposite. Most people understand the world by generalizing personal experiences which are very biased. In the media the “news-worthy” events exaggerate the unusual and put the focus on swift changes. Slow and steady changes in major trends don’t get much attention. Unintentionally, people end-up carrying around a sack of outdated facts that you got in school (including knowledge that often was outdated when acquired in school).’ http://www.gapminder.org/ignorance/

 

 

Waiting for Don’t Panic

‘Internationally acclaimed Swedish Professor Hans Rosling will present Don’t Panic – The Truth About Population, an ‘as-live’ studio event featuring cutting-edge infographics, as part of a short series of programmes exploring global population trends for BBC Two’s international current affairs strand This World.’

And while waiting enjoy Hans Rosling’s Joy of Stats.

Books from the Washing Machine

Where statistics and the passion for human development meet: In a classic presentation from Hans Rosling. Who else could do this like this? A masterpiece.

10 billion

Hans Rosling is an early fighter for open data and one of the best, no: the best in presenting insights from these data.

His last example comes from TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) in Doha, Qatar (April 16-20, 2012) and demonstrates that ‘religion has very little to do with the number of babies per woman’.

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Some more examples of what has been done with open data are given by  publicdata.eu

With an overview of Apps:

Some of these won prizes in the http://opendatachallenge.org/

And now a new competition sponsored by The Guardian and Google is under way,

‘The Guardian Datastore and Google have teamed up to see who can help visualise the data which will show which governments are adopting the economic policies that will facilitate job growth and innovation to lead the world out of the economic slump.’

They are giving hints to datasets, called ‘the world’s key economic datasets from the UN, World Trade Organisation, IMF and some of the world’s major economic experts…’

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Trendalyzer and sons

Explaining developments in the real world using statistical information and visual presentations developed in many ways since William Playfair‘s pioneer work.  One of the most impressive and most popular techniques are time animated scatter plots. And here the Roslings (Hans, his son Ola and daughter-in-law Anna) created (in their Gapminder Foundation) the Trendalyzer Software.

‘ This software unveils the beauty of statistical time series by converting boring numbers into enjoyable, animated and interactive graphics. The current version of Trendalyzer is available since March 2006 as Gapminder World, a web-service displaying time series of development statistics for all countries.’ (from: http://www.gapminder.org/about-gapminder/history/)

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In March 2007 Google acquired Trendalyzer from the Gapminder Foundation. It’s now called Motion Chart and integrated into Google spreadsheet and Google public data.

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This kind of visualisation is since used by others, too.  Some examples:

NcomVA – a spin off of Linköping University in Sweden – introduces animated scatter plots in NcomVA’s eXplorer software, used i.e. by OECD.

See OECD’s Regional Statistics (Chapter Access to Education in Canada and US)

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The World Bank offers Data Visualizer:

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And from Egypt comes Epicsyst’s Trend Compass

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And this is surely not the whole story about Trendalyzer and its offspring. Give us some more examples!

Holographic Gapminder – Joy of Stats

BBC4 publishes Hans Rosling’s presentation of 200 countries – 200 years in a fascinating new way. ‘ …a roller coaster ride through the wonderful world of statistics to explore the remarkable power stats have to change our understanding of the world we live in.’

Analog Visualisation

Another Hans Rosling TED talk, this time on global population growth, in which you will see that his theatrical talents matter much more than the Gapminder software.

And it might encourage us to sometimes step back from the screen and try out different ideas. Do you have similar examples in mind or have you already put them into practice?