Abe Lincoln Used Visualizations, Too

It’s easy to think that the world’s move towards more visual representations of data is relatively new. Think of the increased number of infographics in newspapers, GIFs on the web or even icons on your desktop. But in fact, did you know that the first infographic was invented in 1786? And that even Abe Lincoln appreciated how infographics were able to convey complex information in a simple manner?

The New Yorker recently ran an interesting article on the topic, available here: http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/why-abraham-lincoln-loved-infographics.

This concept – using visualization to quickly convey complex information – is a key component of our Ringtail product development and a huge differentiator for legal review software. Besides speed, visualization can help when there are limitations to keyword searches, and even provide confirmation of predictive coding results.

We’ll be writing about visualization on an ongoing basis on this blog, and welcome any links or comments about interesting uses of visualization from readers.

The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of FTI Consulting, its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals.