Histography - Timeline of History

Data Visualization and the Modern Imagination - Spotlight at Stanford

There are some beautiful illustrations in this online exhibition of data visualisation in the past few hundred years.

List of Physical Visualizations

A timeline showing the history of non-digital dataviz.

The Evolution of the Web

A nice timeline visualisation of recent history.

Historical Trails

Maggie explores different ways of visualising journeys on the web, including browser histories:

Perhaps web browsing histories should look more like Git commit histories? Perhaps distinct branches could representing different topics and research avenues?

A memex in every web browser!

How Florence Nightingale Changed Data Visualization Forever - Scientific American

The design process in action in Victorian England:

Recognizing that few people actually read statistical tables, Nightingale and her team designed graphics to attract attention and engage readers in ways that other media could not. Their diagram designs evolved over two batches of publications, giving them opportunities to react to the efforts of other parties also jockeying for influence. These competitors buried stuffy graphic analysis inside thick books. In contrast, Nightingale packaged her charts in attractive slim folios, integrating diagrams with witty prose. Her charts were accessible and punchy. Instead of building complex arguments that required heavy work from the audience, she focused her narrative lens on specific claims. It was more than data visualization—it was data storytelling.