From Tables to Tableaus: Changing the Analytical Culture of a Large Organization

• Activity Number: 401
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Graphics
• Author(s): Eric C. Newburger*+
• Companies: Census Bureau
• Keywords: census ; graphics ; data visualization ; institutional change ; institutional culture ; interactive graphics

Abstract

As communication technologies exponentially increase the public appetite for data, the Census Bureau's future success at serving the nation hinges upon our ability to make our data and analyses more easily available to a broader audience. Many in that new audience will have little experience with consuming the kinds of tabular datasets that currently dominate our dissemination methods. Data visualization offers a solution to this challenge. Yet, the Census Bureau has an institutional culture generations in the making. Its highly trained specialists - many of whom have dedicated their careers to its work - give the agency an enormous breadth of capabilities, but also make it resistant to sudden change. The Census Bureau is now engaged in a three year effort to increase the ratio of graphics to text in our publications, both online and in print. This paper will document the methods we have used in an attempt to change our data dissemination culture in favor of data visualization, and also assess the degree to which we have succeeded.