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Re: Accessibility of Tableau data dashboards?

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From: Kelley Howell
Date: May 24, 2016 3:03PM


I was thinking along the same lines and then wondered: is there a data visualization tool for the desktop that is accessible?

But then it occurred to me that if you are Edward Tufte, the data visualization genius, he would want his data to tell a story. Since stories are told in words, then we can use words.

So, if you have a cluster map, you could write the program to read the description of the cluster map's output. Bear with me because this is off the cuff, not thought out, but I hope it gets across my general idea.

I am curious if you think this would be more useful than what we have now?

Example 1:

Overview: This cluster map is showing the number of foreclosures in differently bounded areas which are identified as neighborhood, ZIP Code, City, County, State, Region, and Country.

Specific View: This cluster map shows the top 50 areas with the highest number of foreclosures in ZIP codes (and corresponding Place Names) located in the United States. From largest to smallest, starting with largest:

"Very large cluster. 527 homes in foreclosure in the Zip Code 67891 with the Place San Antonio Texas.
Very large cluster. 498 homes in foreclosure in the Zip Code 33415 in Newport, Tennessee."

Example 2:
Or a description of a bar chart:
"This bar chart displays the demographic profile of people shopping for Nike shoes.

Gender. 60% men, 35% women, 5% other are shopping for Nike shoes.
Area type: 35% suburubanites, 25% urbanities, 30% rural residents shopping for Nike shoes.

And so forth.