Have I been looking at charts too long – or does this kinda make sense?
Ok, it’s kinda crazy, but give it a moment – it kinda works … right? (shout up if not … I may have been staring atthis thing for too long)
If I wanted to know the general trends of a music genre over time, with an idea of what had happened along the way – the POLYGON option on Tableau seems to do it.
It also works without explanation, I think.
However, if you DO want a few more details – here goes:
I took the Top 10 albums of the Year from 1980 – 2009, then cateorized each one and gave it a rating- depending on its chart position.
I added up the total values for each genre for each year, and - ta-daaaa. The chart above.
Does it take anything away?
I don’t believe so – in this case it shows the ebb and flow, and interestingly. the battle between Pop and Rock for the top spot.
Unfortunately it doesn’t bode well for Rock does it?
NOTE: I love the fact the blue peak shows the popularity of the Now and other compilation tapes in the mid-late 80′s.
Modifications?
Perhaps switch the position of Urban and Compilation – so both polygons are visible.
I’m also going to revisit my genre categorisation for Dance in the 80s – that seems unusually high.
Any thoughts? Please feel free to comment below …
I didn’t understand the term “Measure Names” from the chart, but your description of how you calculated the points makes sense.
One question. With the Polygon option — does the straight line associated with each trend mean anything? Or is it just to generate eye candy? The mass above and below each line is clearly unequal so it doesn’t seem like a trendline.
“Does it bode well for Rock”. Such extrapolation almost never works.
Thank you for your comments.
Good point on the Measure Points: it’s not too clear (I think I’ve become so immersed in the project I have simply forgotten to explain myself efficiently)
The Measure Points relate to the GENRE categorization I gave each album within those charts. (How I did this was a whole NEW debate and as there is no formal genre classification system, I’ve had to base it purely on my personal opinion.
The straight line in the polygon option is deceiving, on second look. It simply draws a line between the first point on the chart and the last – the peaks show the ebb and flow during that timescale.
For example, the last-but-one spike in the RED/rock column show some positivity, but the eye is automatically drawn to the overall line.
Initially I did think this was an effective tool – however, I do wonder if it is overly simplistic.
Thank you again for your feedback