About

playgraph is a limited liability company located in Cary, North Carolina, USA and is registered with the Central Contractor Registration (CAGE code: 66H92).

Services

playgraph LLC provides the following services:

Please direct all inquiries to: consulting {at} playgraph {dot} com for more information.

Who is playgraph?

David Sharek, Founder

I’m currently in my fifth and final year as a doctoral candidate in human factors / psychology at NCSU. My research interests are somewhat broad and include: understanding and measuring user engagement in eLearning and video games, captology, augmented cognition, and user experience design. I am also interested in the psychology of Internet security and have been recognized in several articles such as BBC News for a paper on recognizing fake Internet warnings. Since 2000, I have worked with a number of companies such as IBM, and Cisco in various roles including multimedia manager, programmer or designer. During my career I co-authored a book on 3D Flash design and have received several eLearning design awards. View my LinkedIn profile for other professional information, or my Mendeley profile for more academic information.

Is there a story behind the name?

Yes there is! I’m glad you asked. The name, playgraph, was inspired by William Playfair (1759-1832) the father of statistical graphics and a true Renaissance man. Playfair invented the bar chart, pie chart, line graph, and the beginnings of the Venn diagram over 200 years ago with the goal to present quantitative information in an appealing manner to render it as usable as possible. Though these types of data visualization tools may seem obvious to us now, they were completely unique inventions in the  early 19th century. Playfair led a truly fascinating life of inquiry, intrigue, and innovation. To learn more about Playfair, check out the book, Playfair’s Commercial and Political Atlas and Statistical Breviary or the journal article, No Humble Pie: The Origins and Usage of a Statistical Chart.