Graphical Equity 1.

I've prepared this page as a response to the Graphical Equity 1 blog entry in Kaiser's Junk Charts blog.

Kaiser shows a network diagram and a Marimekko chart that display the 2005 source and usage of energy in the U.S. The network diagram is effective at showing relationships between source and usage, but rather poor at showing quantitative information. The marimekko chart shows the quantitative information graphically, but its columnar alignment gives greater emphasis to one variable (source) at the expense of the other (usage).

To address this shortcoming in a relatively simple way, one can insert two pseudo-categories for source. The first produces a blank stripe at the right of the main chart, the second another set of stacked rectangles, scaled to provide the totals for the unemphasized variable (usage). The very quickly hacked together example below shows this technique:

This chart type can be produced in Microsoft Excel using the technique described in this article:

Matrix Chart (http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=508)

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