http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/snake-oil-supplements/
The Beauty of Data Visualization
David McCandless
I had watched the above referenced Ted Talk, and wanted to make note of his ‘Snake Oil Supplement’ visualization for personal future reference. Visualization allows for large amounts of data to be presented in a way to more easily recognize patterns and trends via the language of the eye, that could be difficult to piece together otherwise.
However, data can be deceiving. When I have more time would like to pursue the sources used for specific supplements I’m most interested in. But in podcast #TK featured a guest who talked about clinical studies, specifically those that were proven to be manipulated, yet despite court actions, the studies still stand as valid to this day.
In this day and age of information overload, it can be difficult to combat the contradictions and hidden agendas typically driven by profit or ego. Scientific studies can be innocently misrepresented, presented out of context, have critical data omissions, or suffer from improper focus on counter productive time frames.
We’ve all read or heard about the occasional article of someone passing away from an overdose of water. Does that mean we avoid water at all cost? Obviously not, without water we would die. “The dose makes the poison.” If even water can be considered poison, what does that say about everything else?