Research IT

Help shape the future of Data Visualization at the University of Manchester

And be in with a chance of winning £250, £150 or £100 of Amazon Vouchers!

The demand for visualization of datasets through the creation of meaningful and attractive representations of data, and to provide insight and greater understanding of data is rapidly growing. There are many existing applications, ranging from Excel to more sophisticated and complex software like Matlab, Python, R, Mathematica, and STATA.

From feedback, we have identified a need for an application that falls in between these two extremes and we would like your help in evaluating potential applications. This evaluation will help select an application for wider adoption across the University, along with training, support and central licensing.

We have selected Tableau, Qlik, Spotfire and IBM Watson Analytics for a more detailed evaluation by the community.

Scope of the evaluation process

There is a wide variety of visualization needs at the university so it is important that we gather as many use-cases as possible from all research areas. Using the software to visualize your own data and reporting your findings is highly desirable in this exercise. However if you do not have a suitable dataset the information pack includes links to some example datasets.

Similarly we would encourage you to review more than one of the candidate applications and provide some thoughts on how they compare in the comments section of the survey.

To take part in the evaluation simply follow the instructions in the attached Evaluation Information Pack. The pack includes a link to the survey so you may provide your feedback:

Please contact us at ITS-research@manchester.ac.uk and let us know that you are intending to evaluate one or more applications or if you have any further questions.

The deadline for completing the survey is 16th September.

To say thank you for taking part in the evaluation there will be a prize for the three best evaluation reports. The prizes will be £250, £150 and £100 of Amazon Vouchers.