Victoria Data Society

🕘 Schedule:
5:00 PM – Registration, networking and pizza
5:30 PM – Beyond the Lie Factor: Modern Lessons in Misleading Data Visualization presentation
6:30 PM – Networking

📊 Beyond the Lie Factor: Modern Lessons in Misleading Data Visualization
Data visualizations are powerful tools for communication, but a single design misstep can completely warp the audience's conclusions. Whether accidental or intentional, choices like truncated axes, improper area encoding, and dual-axis layouts frequently distort the reality of the underlying data. This session dives deep into the science and psychology behind these distortions to help you recognize and avoid common visual pitfalls.
Presented by Jacob Lower, this talk builds from Tufte's foundational Lie Factor through to recent empirical findings from the CHI and IEEE VIS communities to provide actionable, research-backed guidance for the data community.

🎯 Why Attend?
Whether you're a data professional, analyst, designer, or simply curious about visual communication, this session will help you:

• Identify the psychological factors and design flaws that accidentally or intentionally distort data visuals 🧠
• Apply recent empirical findings from the CHI and IEEE VIS research communities to your day-to-day work 🔬
• Implement practical, research-backed guidance to ensure your charts accurately inform rather than mislead 📐
• Connect with fellow data enthusiasts 🤝
• Enjoy great conversations over pizza and refreshments 🍕🥤

Cost

• Free for Victoria Data Society members.
• $10 cover charge for non-members (pay at the door).

🗓️ June 29
🕔 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
📍 Esquimalt Gorge Park Pavilion | Victoria, BC

🧑‍💻About this event

Health data has never been more important — and never more fragmented. Across Canada, valuable information is locked in systems that don’t communicate effectively. With AI advancing rapidly, the pressure to make this data functional is growing.

The Vital Data Mini‑Con brings together practitioners from healthcare, tech, research, and government to explore how we move from fragmented to functional health data systems. This half‑day symposium is designed for practical, grounded conversations across sectors.

Speakers
• CGI — Cheryl Walker: From Data Fields to Human Beings
• AOT Technologies — Abin Antony: Reimagining Primary Healthcare with AI and Clinical Automation
• Tall Tree Health — Devon Cochrane: Data Fragmentation in Allied Health: A Frontline Perspective

More speakers + a moderated panel will be announced this week.

👥Who you will meet
You’ll connect with professionals working directly on health data systems, including:
• Data analysts and engineers
• Healthcare IT professionals
• Researchers and students
• Digital health and policy professionals
• Anyone interested in the future of health data and AI

Event Sponsors
🏆 Platinum: Xenex
🥇 Gold: CGI, AOT Technologies
🥈 Silver: Tall Tree Health, UVic Health Information Science
🤝 Community Partner: Victoria Hand Project

A big thank‑you to our partners for their generous support.

💲Cost
🎟️ Regular Attendees — $50
🎓Students — $20
*VDS Members — $35
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☕️Your ticket includes coffee, tea, and light refreshments
⚠️ Capacity is limited to 100 attendees