Sankey charts are a powerful visualization tool for exploring the flow of ideas, relationships, and information between different entities or sources. They represent the flow of materials, funds, people, or ideas between these entities as a network of channels. In this article, we will explore how to create a sankey chart and its applications, and how to interpret the data.

Creating a Sankey Chart

A sankey chart is created using the Sankey layout algorithm, which is used to build a network of channels that represent the flow of material, funds, people, or other information between two sets of nodes. The nodes represent different sources or outlets, while the channels represent the physical flow of material, funds, people, or ideas.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating a sankey chart:

1. Identify the sources and outlets: Identify the sources and outlets you want to represent in the chart. For example, if you’re exploring the flow of ideas between universities, the sources could be universities and the outlets could be knowledge publications or research centers.

2. Assign colors or symbols to the sources and outlets: Assign colors or symbols to the sources and outlets to make it easy to identify the different types of information. For example, you might color blue for knowledge publications or research centers, green for universities, and orange for people or financial flows.

3. Determine the direction of the flow: Determine the direction of the flow of material, funds, people, or ideas between the sources and outlets. For example, if you’re exploring the flow of ideas from universities to knowledge publications or research centers, the flow would be from universities to knowledge publications and research centers.

4. Build the chart: Build the sankey chart using the Sankey layout algorithm. This algorithm uses algorithms to build a network of channels that represent the flow of information between different entities.

Once you have your chart, you can customize the layout and direction of the channels to suit your needs. You can also add annotations and labels to each node to provide more information and context.

Applications of Sankey Charts

Sankey charts can be used in a variety of fields, including finance, politics, and social science. They can be used to visualize the flow of money through a network of banks, companies, or countries, or to represent the flow of credit between suppliers and customers.

They can also be used to represent the flow of ideas through academic institutions or research organizations, or to represent the flow of information between different people or organizations. Sankey charts can be used to track the flow of knowledge and innovation between different institutions or organizations, or to show the flow of resources between different sectors of an economy.

In addition to their use in scientific research, sankey charts are also used in public policy planning and management, where they can help policymakers understand how different sectors of the economy are interconnected and how government policies can affect each other.

Conclusion

Sankey charts are a useful tool for exploring the flow of ideas, relationships, and information between different entities or sources. By following the steps below, you can create a sankey chart and use it to explore the flow of knowledge and resources between different sectors of an economy, or to track the flow of finance and credit between different organizations. The visual and interactive nature of sankey charts make them an engaging and powerful tool for anyone interested in exploring the complex interconnections between different parts of an organization or society.

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