Tall Infographics
Tall Infographics
BY THE YEAR 2018 2019 2020 ALL INFO Rmation [Graph representing all information.] [X axis of graph: 6 YEARS from now ( 72 months)] WILL BE [in two segments of a pie chart] Megan: COMMUNICATED Hairy: Yes! in THIS CLEAR and CONCISE [in a Venn diagram] F O R M A T [on the x axis of a bar graph of where these letters fall in the alphabet (the bar labeled T is shaded with a different color)] [Arrow pointing to the bar labeled "T": T ]

This comic is a satirical infographic , which is usually used to simplify and help visualize information that would be dreadfully boring otherwise. Randall takes this "simplification" to the extreme by making an unhelpful infographic, complete with unnecessary data and ironic and blatant misuse of common graphs and charts. At this point, he is not even simplifying his sentence "By the year 2019, all information will be communicated in this clear and concise format." He makes a sarcastic claim, pointing out how needlessly complicated some infographics make things they are supposed to condense.
In the chart:
It is also likely that this comic is a send up of the recent trend towards presenting information in tall graphics that are easily viewed on smartphone screens. A tall graphic with the same pixel width as an iPhone, for example, can be viewed without zooming and using only vertical scrolling. Another discussion venue for the topic and this comic is Gizmodo: Tall Infographics Suck .
The prediction communicated in the comic did not actually happen by the year 2019. Alternatively, it did happen but was reversed so quickly nobody noticed it happened.
The title text mentions the often-hyped term " big data ." "Big data" normally refers to the challenges of working with and visualizing a quantity of data which is hard to process using traditional tools and methods. Randall, now speaking unsarcastically, tells us that just because the font size is huge doesn't mean you have handled the big data well.
BY THE YEAR 2018 2019 2020 ALL INFO Rmation [Graph representing all information.] [X axis of graph: 6 YEARS from now ( 72 months)] WILL BE [in two segments of a pie chart] Megan: COMMUNICATED Hairy: Yes! in THIS CLEAR and CONCISE [in a Venn diagram] F O R M A T [on the x axis of a bar graph of where these letters fall in the alphabet (the bar labeled T is shaded with a different color)] [Arrow pointing to the bar labeled "T": T ]
