(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Fazeena Saleem / The Peninsula
Doha: Qatar National Library (QNL) yesterday opened its inaugural digital exhibition, ‘Information is Beautiful.' The one-of-its-kind exhibition displays visual data in both Arabic and English on 11 interactive digital screens.
Visitors can engage with unique visualisations and infographics of facts and data on subjects such as reading in the Arabian Gulf, health, social media in the Middle East, Qatar, patterns in behaviour and world empires.
The exhibition is exclusively designed for QNL and in a way to match the innovative technology, said David McCandless, curator of the exhibition.
'The exhibition explores many topics in visual form. Information has been visualised on the very unique touch-screen technology, both in Arabic and English, he said, speaking to the media on sidelines of the exhibition.
'It ranges across topics related to the region such as social media habits, reading habits, patterns in behaviour and broader topics related to the world, said McCandless, who is a London-based author, data journalist and information designer.
Peter Chamberlain, Deputy Ambassador of the UK to Qatar; Dr Sohair Wastawy, Executive Director, QNL; Dr Stuart Hamilton, Deputy Executive Director of International Relations and Communications, QNL, along with several other officials, guests and visitors were present at the event.
'This library is a place which presents information in different formats… Here we present information with visualisations and infographics through technology.
'It allows visitors to and compare and contrast the facts and figures presented. It allows you to see the big picture of information through a small page, said Dr Wastawy.
'This type of digital exhibition is new to libraries and we are very proud to present this first-of-kind exhibition in town, she added.
McCandless also delivered a lecture about using data visualisation to unlock the stories behind vast amounts of data and present them in understandable ways.
He presented examples of how visualisation can change the way audiences understand data on topics such as military spending, media hype and super foods.
'Visualisation allows us to mediate between the vast amount of data on the one hand, and daily life on the other. Visualisations can help bring data down to earth, so we aren't overwhelmed by it, McCandless said.
'If you match data with the right questions, you can find new insights from it. Data is like fertile soil, and infographics are the beautiful flowers that come out of it, he added.
The exhibition will run until December 31.
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