From 3833d1c0af5c099a30206ae20c00ae61d8d389b0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Anthony Starks Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2024 00:37:08 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] Add files via upload update readme --- README.md | 145 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 143 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 0ee124e..ffee8a9 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -1,2 +1,143 @@ -# Du-Bois-STEM -Du Bois STEM +# Why Visualize Data: Creative and Visual Thinking in the Case of Du Bois + +*It’s often said that a picture is worth a thousand words.* + +Pictures can be more memorable than words and even more memorable than numbers. In support of this, a Nielsen study +found that the brain processes images 60X faster in comparison to words. + +There will be times in your academic or professional career where you will need to answer a question for yourself or +others that is hard to answer with words alone. Creativity is often valuable for answering the hardest questions, +including scientific ones. And visualization of concepts and data can be an important creative tool for formulating and +answering questions. Because science and most professions involve collective undertakings, you will also need to +communicate your ideas and analysis to others. Visualizations can again be a powerful creative tool towards this end. +Cascades of mind numbing data will often lose your audience and collaborators. + +Recent scholarship (Conwell and Loughren 2024; Itzigsohn and Brown 2020; Morris 2017) and social media initiatives +(Starks 2022) have recentered Black sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois’s foundational contributions to social scientific and +statistical methods at the turn of the 20th century. DuBois was among the first professors in the nation to train +students in empirical methodologies. He involved his students in field work, including large scale quantitative +surveys, wherein they collected and analyzed data on the Black community and race relations. Because these students +were taught to think scientifically and engage in data analysis, the most advanced of the group became valuable +collaborators (Morris 2018; Battle-Baptiste and Rusert 2018). Du Bois used rigorous yet accessible methods, including +data visualization, to empirically challenge the false claims of eugenics and scientific racism. + +Du Bois notably used innovative data visualizations to tell data stories about Black Americans for broad audiences to +chronicle the educational and economic success of Black Americans following emancipation from slavery +(Battle-Baptiste and Rusert 2018). Du Bois relied on infographics and artistic media (see architecture scholar Mabel O. +Wilson). More than 50 of Du Bois data visualization posters were featured at the 1900 Paris Exposition world’s fair and +are now preserved in the Library of Congress. The unified narrative of Black empowerment that Du Bois crafted with the +poster series prefigured subsequent research findings regarding the importance of visualization and storytelling in +STEM education (Friendly and Wainer 2021; Hill and Grinnell 2014). + +Du Bois and his collaborators made some of the other earliest known deployments of statistical methods in social +science, including: Categorical data analysis and visualization, including clustered bar chart presentations of partial +tables to control for confounding factors. Du Bois used the method to disprove racist myths about Black family +structure by showing higher marriage rates among Blacks than among Germans after controlling for age, showcasing this +technique sixty years before it became state of the art (Treiman 2014). Cartographical visualization of geosocial data. +Triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data + +Du Bois’ collaborators included women, such as social worker Jane Addams and sociologist Isabel Eaton. The two women +contributed to the expansion of survey research and advancement of statistical methods around the turn of the 20th +century (Morris 2018; Williams and MacLean 2015). + +Our module design is guided by Du Bois’s insistence that science be built on careful, empirical research (Morris 2015) +but most go further to garner notice beyond narrow circles of academics. As noted above, Du Bois and his Atlanta +University team produced modern graphs, charts, maps, photographs and other items that appeared to sparkle for the 1900 +Paris Exposition (Morris 2018; Battle-Baptiste and Rusert 2018). As Morris has noted, the intent was to convey weighty +social scientific ideas in a fashion far more attractive than dispassionate arguments and dense statistical tables. + +Please take a moment to browse a [subset of Du Bois’ visualizations here:] +(https://github.com/ajstarks/dubois-data-portraits/blob/master/dubois-stem/README.md) + +## Du Bois Visualizations for Consideration in STEM Education + +Note that the plate numbers referenced below are from [W. E. B. Du Bois's Data Portraits: Visualizing Black America] +(https://papress.com/products/w-e-b-du-boiss-data-portraits-visualizing-black-america) + +## Figure 1: Time series graph + +![plate40](original-plate-40.jpg) + +One of the rare line charts in the collection, the comparative population growth of white and Black Americans from +1790-1890, is annotated with relevant events like "Suppression of Slave Trade", Immigration" and "Emancipation". + +## Figure 2: Time Series Percent Area Graph + +![plate51](original-plate-51.jpg) + +With the green waters of Freedom plunging down a waterfall set on the dark base of slavery, "Proportion of Freeman and +Slaves Among American Negroes" shows number of enslaved and free from 1790 to 1870. + +## Figure 3: Percentage Bar Graph of Dichotomous Variable Status(literacy) By Select Categories (National / Racial Community) + +![plate47](original-plate-47.jpg) + +Comparing the state of Black Americans with the larger world, "Illiteracy of American Negroes compared with that of +other nations" shows Black American's illiteracy in red, in the middle of a sea of green, higher than countries like +France, but better than others like Russia. + +## Figure 4: Categorical Map of Population Location With Population Size Legend + +![plate02](original-plate-02.jpg) + +A choropleth outlining the population of Black Americans, by state. Note the concentration in the South, with Georgia +leading (750,000 or more). + +## Figure 5: Fan Chart for Categorical Percentage Distributions in Two Comparison Groups + +![plate01](original-plate-27.jpg) + +The fan chart compares Black and white population's occupations, using color and area to faciliate comparisons. + + +## Figure 6: Cartographical Visualization of Population Location and Movement + +![plate01](original-plate-01.jpg) + +"The Georgia Negro, A Social Study" shows the transatlantic slave trade, with routes from Europe, Africa, the Americas + and the Caribbean, highlighting Georgia. This visual contains Du Bois' famous assertion: "The problem of the 20th + century is the problem of the color line" + + +## Figure 7: Multivariate stacked bar graph by continuous covariate brackets, with photographic and other data element details + +![plate31](original-plate-31.jpg) + +The horizontal stacked bar charts show how various economic groups spend their income among these categories: Rent, +Food, Clothes, Taxes, and other expenses and giving. This visual is distinct in that it includes photographs along with +the chart. + +## Figure 8: Partial Table Bar Graph – i.e. Bivariate Categorical Relationship (Marriage Status by Racial / National Group) Broken Control Variable (Age) + +![plate10](original-plate-10.jpg) + +The "Conjugal Condition" visual compares three groups (single, married, widowed and divorced), divided by age: +(15-40, 40-80, and over 80) within two populations: Black Americans and the country of Germany. The data is shown +clearly using six proportional bar graphs in the red, yellow and green color scheme. + +## Figure 9: Bar/Spiral chart Uses color and contrasting lengths to highlight quantitative demographic differences. +![plate11](original-plate-11.jpg) + +## Figure 10: Bar Chart +"Acres of Land Owned by Negroes in Georgia" is a conventional bar chart with a twist. The chart shows the increase of + land owned between 1874(338,769 acres) and 1899 (1,023,741), with the red shape of the data echoing the map of + Georgia. + +![plate19](original-plate-19.jpg) + +## Figure 11: County-level Choropleth Echoing the previous chart, this map shows land owned by the formally enslaved over three decades post-emancipation. + +![plate20](original-plate-20.jpg) + +## Figure 12: Spiral Chart +"Assessed Value of Household and Kitchen Furniture Owned by Georgia Negroes" uses the spiral form to emphasize the gains + in material goods over a quarter century. + +![plate25](original-plate-25.jpg) + +## References + +[Du Bois Visualization Style Guide] +(https://github.com/ajstarks/dubois-data-portraits/blob/master/style/dubois-style.pdf) +stem.md +Displaying stem.md. \ No newline at end of file