After reading through Moretti’s discussion of “Graphs” (3-33), and navigating through the Information is Beautiful site, write a 300-500 blog post discussing the following:

1. What is Moretti’s central argument in the Graphs chapter? Do you find it compelling/persuasive? Why/why not? What, precisely, does Moretti argue about the history of novels, and why does this argument require graphs?
2. Which graph in Moretti’s chapter appeal most to you? What specific information did you learn from it?
3. Select two visualizations from the Information is Beautiful site to explore in detail. Explain what the visualization is trying to accomplish, what kinds of data it seems to be using, and why you think this argument is particularly effective in its current form. In other words: could this argument be made in a “traditional” academic article? What is gained/lost when it is presented in visual form?

Blog posts are due before midnight on Saturday. Comments for peers are due before 5pm on Monday.