FINDING SADDAM: HOW INFORMATION YIELDS ITS SECRET
by Max Dietshe, Senior Strategist
"Figure it out, draw the lines, make me a chart and find every crucial person connected to Saddam." With this simple request, Major Stan Murphy, an intelligence officer with the Fourth Infantry Division in Iraq, launched an initiative to find a missing dictator in a country the size of France. Two military intelligence analysts began poring over tens of thousands of pages of intelligence and interrogation reports, putting together a list of over 9,000 people with ties to the Hussein regime. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, their first thought was, "Is he joking? This is impossible. We can't even pronounce these names."
The result of their work, after much editing, was basically a map. Dubbed "Mongo Link," this 46 x 42-inch color-coded chart presented 300 names and physical descriptions, with connecting lines showing tribal and financial ties. The analysts were surprised by the complexity they had managed to visualize: "The extent and depth of how much the tribes were intertwined frankly shocked us."
More importantly, they could see right away that where the network was thickest was where they needed to begin making arrests. Within weeks, this led them to Saddam.
This form of data visualization is one of the most powerful techniques of information design. It takes advantage of our perceptual abilities to absorb and analyze vast quantities of information when presented schematically—far more than can be processed through text by itself. Edward R. Tufte, Yale University professor emeritus and author of seminal works such as Visual Explanations, notes that information design uses "graphics as an instrument for reasoning about quantitative information." An effective graphic can record the findings of hundreds of studies in a single page, enforcing comparison of the varying results.
Information design techniques have long been used by historians, scientists and cartographers to render complex information more accessible and usable. The same techniques lend themselves equally well to analyzing business processes and communications.
"Our designers and strategists routinely chart the lifecycles of communications materials, bottlenecks in content management processes, and key decision points in client relationship management," says Gordon Akwera, Addison's Director of Information Design. "The results can be startling."
The United States may have one of the most powerful militaries and sophisticated intelligence-gathering capabilities in history, but the power to visualize information and see patterns in complexity is one of the most potent weapons available to generals and captains of industry alike. Where previously only suspected, the "points of pain" (excessive costs, inefficient organizational structures or poor customer experience) are now instantly observable—and the solutions readily apparent.
About the Author
Max Dietshe is a senior marketing communications executive who oversees simplified communications and corporate marketing literature projects for clients such as, Merrill Lynch and Guardian Life Insurance Company. Max joined Addison from OppenheimerFunds, Inc., where he served as director of marketing communications.
Contact us for more information
"Figure it out, draw the lines, make me a chart and find every crucial person connected to Saddam." With this simple request, Major Stan Murphy, an intelligence officer with the Fourth Infantry Division in Iraq, launched an initiative to find a missing dictator in a country the size of France. Two military intelligence analysts began poring over tens of thousands of pages of intelligence and interrogation reports, putting together a list of over 9,000 people with ties to the Hussein regime. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, their first thought was, "Is he joking? This is impossible. We can't even pronounce these names."
The result of their work, after much editing, was basically a map. Dubbed "Mongo Link," this 46 x 42-inch color-coded chart presented 300 names and physical descriptions, with connecting lines showing tribal and financial ties. The analysts were surprised by the complexity they had managed to visualize: "The extent and depth of how much the tribes were intertwined frankly shocked us."
More importantly, they could see right away that where the network was thickest was where they needed to begin making arrests. Within weeks, this led them to Saddam.
This form of data visualization is one of the most powerful techniques of information design. It takes advantage of our perceptual abilities to absorb and analyze vast quantities of information when presented schematically—far more than can be processed through text by itself. Edward R. Tufte, Yale University professor emeritus and author of seminal works such as Visual Explanations, notes that information design uses "graphics as an instrument for reasoning about quantitative information." An effective graphic can record the findings of hundreds of studies in a single page, enforcing comparison of the varying results.
Information design techniques have long been used by historians, scientists and cartographers to render complex information more accessible and usable. The same techniques lend themselves equally well to analyzing business processes and communications.
"Our designers and strategists routinely chart the lifecycles of communications materials, bottlenecks in content management processes, and key decision points in client relationship management," says Gordon Akwera, Addison's Director of Information Design. "The results can be startling."
The United States may have one of the most powerful militaries and sophisticated intelligence-gathering capabilities in history, but the power to visualize information and see patterns in complexity is one of the most potent weapons available to generals and captains of industry alike. Where previously only suspected, the "points of pain" (excessive costs, inefficient organizational structures or poor customer experience) are now instantly observable—and the solutions readily apparent.
About the Author
Max Dietshe is a senior marketing communications executive who oversees simplified communications and corporate marketing literature projects for clients such as, Merrill Lynch and Guardian Life Insurance Company. Max joined Addison from OppenheimerFunds, Inc., where he served as director of marketing communications.
Contact us for more information
