There are many reasons and purposes for using data visualization. The videos below provide stories and examples of some of these.

A good place to start is this TED talk by Tom Wujec on Three Ways the Brain Creates Meaning. "Information designer Tom Wujec talks through three areas of the brain that help us understand words, images, feelings, connections. In this short talk from TEDU, he asks: How can we best engage our brains to help us better understand big ideas?"

This TED talk by Chris Jordan highlights the affective value of using visualizations over statistics. "Artist Chris Jordan shows us an arresting view of what Western culture looks like. His supersized images picture some almost unimaginable statistics -- like the astonishing number of paper cups we use every single day."

Alex Lundry recently described the Chart Wars happening in politics and the importance of "graphical literacy."

From Vimeo, "This is a short film by MAYA Design about information. Although most of us think we know what we mean when we say "information," we sometimes confuse the medium with the message."

Information from MAYAnMAYA on Vimeo.

Check out this brief video demonstrating the power of Microsoft Pivot Viewer.

And my personal favourite: Little Red Riding Hood, retold only through visualizations.

Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.