Data & Infographics: Crash Course Navigating Digital Information #8

Today, we're going to discuss how numbers, like statistics, and visual representations like charts and infographics can be used to help us better understand the world or profoundly deceive. Data is a really powerful form of evidence because it can be absorbed quickly and easily, but neither data, nor interpretations of it, are neutral, so today we're going to discuss how to think critically about the statistics we encounter in everyday life.

Special thanks to our partners from MediaWise who helped create this series:
The Poynter Institute

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Thanks to the following patrons for their generous monthly contributions that help keep Crash Course free for everyone forever:

Eric Prestemon, Sam Buck, Mark Brouwer, Bob Doye, Jennifer Killen, Naman Goel, Patrick Wiener II, Nathan Catchings, Efrain R. Pedroza, Brandon Westmoreland, dorsey, Indika Siriwardena, James Hughes, Kenneth F Penttinen, Trevin Beattie, Satya Ridhima Parvathaneni, Erika & Alexa Saur, Glenn Elliott, Justin Zingsheim, Jessica Wode, Kathrin Benoit, Tom Trval, Jason Saslow, Nathan Taylor, Brian Thomas Gossett, Khaled El Shalakany, SR Foxley, Sam Ferguson, Yasenia Cruz, Eric Koslow, Caleb Weeks, Tim Curwick, D.A. Noe, Shawn Arnold, Malcolm Callis, Advait Shinde, William McGraw, Andrei Krishkevich, Rachel Bright, Jirat, Ian Dundore
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Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet?

[chinhnk]

well, since I'm probably among the earliest and this comment probably has higher chance of being read, I'd like to say thanks to John and the Crash Course crew. Crash Course has been a major part of my information diet for the last 3 years.
This newest course is a badly needed addition to the public awareness, especially nowadays. Even though being an IT professional, I was heavily involved in teaching debate and media literacy in my earlier years. This course so far has been much much more comprehensive than I had ever been able to deliver to my fellow students.
Best wishes for all of you.
From a Vietnamese in Finland.

[dmdcykey]

Yet another excellent, thought-provoking, informative installment. This series has become one of my most anticipated playlists. Thanks again for the important work your channel does for us all.

[coralee]

As a graphic designer, this episode is going to help me be much more aware of potentially misleading messages in the infographics I create. I wish that this topic had been present in the (albeit basic) infographics training I received - especially considering how much can apparently be covered in 13 minutes! Thank you for another great episode.

[jasminnyack]

When I worked for cosmetic brands, you'll get a lot of "9/10 women found their skin was better after this product" that would have a cross beside that, and in tiny tiny tiny letters (TINY) on the giant poster would be "36 women were tested" and when you look further into it -- all of them were either workers for the cosmetic brand, or loyal brand users who refuse to use any other brand. Also, 36 women is a tiny sample.

[tophers]

Learning to interpret data should be required in public schools, especially in the digital age. It needs to go hand-in-hand with teaching critical thinking. Unfortunately, often in the US critical thinking isn't just ignored, but viewed with hostility.

[cholten]

As soon as John said "9 out of 10 crash course employees" I immediately yelled "STAN!"

[curiousfirely]

"Data in the Wild"!! I'm in love with this phrase.

[mustardsfire]

If I learn anything from this CC, it's *LATERAL READING*

[RangerRuby]

Oh man! I have a big research paper coming up and I simply can't wait to be able to make an awesome paper with all of these tips and tricks to find good, reliable information!

[hansolo]

This is such an important video. Many people nowadays try to mask their racist and outdated ideas with "statistics" and many people believe them because "statistics" great to to see this video educating on this topic and explaining what statistics are and how to check if they are reliable etc.

[akivaweil]

This is amazing. I love how ridiculously unbiased this is.

[timmcdaniel]

6:39 "Forget about snail slime. Have I told you about Squarespace?" You evil man! I was just starting to take a drink of water!

[matthewjames]

Love this! Would really appreciate an episode where you outline all the best banks of reliable accurate data we can find, rather than show us how we can navigate through potentially bad sources.

[mikegb]

10:28 "The size of a filled in or inked area should be proportional to the data value it represents." The way I interpret that is that a 1% movement in the graph should represent a 1% movement in the data. How do you determine what 100% is? Should all temperature graphs start at 0 Kelvin? Should all graphs representing percentages range from 0% to 100% even when it is completely implausible that the exreme values could ever be present in the data? Instead, I would be inclined to consider only the plausible range of values (so, probably not including 0 Kelvin) -- and plausible is a judgement call.

[ersanseer]

My grandpa always said to question authority with a healthy dose of skepticism. He was one cool dude.

[timmcdaniel]

About the intro (0:03 - 0:36): STAN IS THE MAN! All praise Stan!

(And I loled at "I've seen the comments. That can't be true.")

[mikematsuri]

Speaking of bad visualizations, the world map at 01:26 is missing Japan.

[ProfessorSyndicateFranklai]

"There are only three kinds of lies: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics" - Mark Twain






(Yes I know he probably never said that.)

[TunkPotterSV]

Best and much needed Crash Course series ever! Thanks John Green!

[BradleyKoch]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for saying that data can be qualitative!