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Jason Forrest

A look inside Nightingale Magazine Issue 2!

Nightingale Magazine Issue 2 is now arriving in mailboxes around the world—we’ve already started to see excited posts on social media! (For those that are..

Nightingale Editors & Jeremy Singer-Vine

Data Is Plural Visualization Challenge: Bob Ross

This article originally appeared in Issue 2 of Nightingale Magazine.In Nightingale Magazine Issue 1, we launched the Data Is Plural visualization challenge with Jeremy Singer-Vine, creator of the Data Is..

Alli Torban

Dear Nightingale: Create Your Physical Inspiration Train!

This article originally appeared in Issue 2 of Nightingale Magazine.In Nightingale Magazine Issue 1, we launched the Dear Nightingale analogue data creation challenge with Giorgia Lupi..

Milán Janosov

Livable cities’ urban networks

Road networks are magnificent bird-eye view fingerprints of cities, age-old topics of urban planning, and stable cornerstones of spatial data science. As a primary goal..

Illustration of a young girl with a big smile, wide eyes, and brown headscarf standing in front of several piles of chocolate bars
Gulrez Khan

From Chocolates to Bar Graphs

“Abbu, I’ll make a graph of all the chocolates you eat while I’m asleep and will send it to your team,” my daughter Pariza complained,..

Illustration of a tombstone with a line chart dropping precipitously, with the letters WIP above
Jacque Schrag

Dataviz Horror Story: Jacque Schrag

We’ve all made embarrassing dataviz mistakes, whether we’re beginners or superstars. This series of Horror Stories aims to normalize “failure” as part of professional development…

Latest articles

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Nightingale Editors
February 2, 2023

Three Questions With… Emily Barone

The Nightingale team is thrilled to introduce our new managing editor, Emily Barone!  We’re excited for the new energy, ideas, and experience she is already..
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Simran Parwani
January 31, 2023

Early Career Corner: Meet Ana Cuza

Welcome to this installment of Early Career Corner, a space to learn from each other’s dataviz journeys and amplify the work of early career practitioners.The..
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Milán Janosov
January 26, 2023

Livable cities’ urban networks

Road networks are magnificent bird-eye view fingerprints of cities, age-old topics of urban planning, and stable cornerstones of spatial data science. As a primary goal..
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Purchase Nightingale Magazine #2 now!
Nightingale Magazine is a collectible community celebration! Our print magazine showcases some of the most compelling data visualization projects and stories from around the world. The second edition of Nightingale Magazine, on the theme of inspiration, will be shipping at the end of November!
Be sure to get your copy while supplies last!
A screenshot of a video meeting between Neil Richards (a man with short dark hair, glasses, and a gray and black beard) and Jenn Schilling (a woman with short brown hair and glasses). Both Neil and Jenn are smiling and holding up their copies of the book Questions in Dataviz.R
Jenn Schilling
January 25, 2023

REVIEW: Questions in Dataviz by Neil Richards

I was excited to read and review Questions in Dataviz by Neil Richards, because I love the idea of data visualization design driven by questions...
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Jason Forrest
January 24, 2023

A look inside Nightingale Magazine Issue 2!

Nightingale Magazine Issue 2 is now arriving in mailboxes around the world—we’ve already started to see excited posts on social media! (For those that are..
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Nightingale Editors & Jeremy Singer-Vine
January 23, 2023

Data Is Plural Visualization Challenge: Bob Ross

This article originally appeared in Issue 2 of Nightingale Magazine.In Nightingale Magazine Issue 1, we launched the Data Is Plural visualization challenge with Jeremy Singer-Vine, creator of the Data Is..
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Alli Torban
January 20, 2023

Dear Nightingale: Create Your Physical Inspiration Train!

This article originally appeared in Issue 2 of Nightingale Magazine.In Nightingale Magazine Issue 1, we launched the Dear Nightingale analogue data creation challenge with Giorgia Lupi..
Illustration of a young girl with a big smile, wide eyes, and brown headscarf standing in front of several piles of chocolate barsF
Gulrez Khan
January 19, 2023

From Chocolates to Bar Graphs

“Abbu, I’ll make a graph of all the chocolates you eat while I’m asleep and will send it to your team,” my daughter Pariza complained,..
Illustration of a tombstone with a line chart dropping precipitously, with the letters WIP aboveD
Jacque Schrag
January 18, 2023

Dataviz Horror Story: Jacque Schrag

We’ve all made embarrassing dataviz mistakes, whether we’re beginners or superstars. This series of Horror Stories aims to normalize “failure” as part of professional development...
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Jason Forrest
January 17, 2023

The Telefacts of Life: Rudolf Modley’s Isotypes in American Newspapers 1938–1945

While Otto Neurath invented the Isotype in Vienna in 1925 and guided its evolution to international acclaim, he was not successful in the United States...
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Marília Ferreira da Cunha
January 13, 2023

Information Is Beautiful Awards – Impactful Community Leader and Nominees

For the first time in Information is Beautiful Awards, the Impactful Community Leader Award was recognized. This award is for an individual who has made..
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Marília Ferreira da Cunha
January 12, 2023

Information Is Beautiful Awards – Test of Time

The Test of Time Award was inspired by the IEEE Vis Test of Time Award presented to a paper published ten years prior with a..
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Marília Ferreira da Cunha
January 11, 2023

Information Is Beautiful Awards – Exemplary Book

The Exemplary Book Award was designed to recognize a critical piece of long-format writing published between 2019 to 2022, with the definition of ‘book’ being..
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Daleen Rabe
January 10, 2023

Honing Your Skills in Data Visualization as a Designer

Starting anything new can be daunting. This past year, I set out to improve my skills and confidence in data visualization. A topic that sounded..
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Theresa-Marie Rhyne
January 6, 2023

Viva Magenta and Waterfall Experiences in Data Visualization

In this writing, I discuss ways to use Pantone’s 2023 Color of the Year, Viva Magenta to colorize your data visualizations. I create two bar..

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Some of our favorite articles

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Beyond Nightingale: Being a Woman in Data Visualization

If you conduct a quick internet search on “history of data visualization,” you’ll nearly always see Florence Nightingale included in the annals of history. Why?..
Resettlement Administration exhibitT
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The Influence of Isotype in New Deal Information Design: A Resettlement Administration Exhibition, 1936

How the design concept influenced the American government's campaign to help its vulnerable populations.
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Draw The Rest Of The Chart: Imposter Syndrome and Leveling Up in Data Visualization

Is It Ever Gonna Be Enough? A bright, energetic consultant stares intently at Microsoft PowerPoint. This hero, inexperienced but devoted, hears a door open nearby...
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A Poet’s Perspective: Seven Reasons Why Your Dataviz Team Should Include an Analyst from the Humanities

I was once auto-rejected from a job I had written for myself. After several interviews, my soon-to-be manager asked me to delineate the responsibilities I..
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Interview with the South China Morning Post Infographics Team

One of the most interesting teams in the world has to be the Infographics team of the South China Morning Post. Based in Hong Kong,..
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Information Graphics in Action: Russian Agitational Postcards 1900–1960

The postcard originated in the middle of the XIX century and went through the development path together with the poster, following stylistic changes in the..
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None Of Us Are Free If Some Of Us Are Not: Catherine D’Ignazio on Data Feminism

I had the great pleasure of seeing Catherine D’Ignazio speak at EYEO festival this past summer. I was totally inspired by her message, and while I had..
Wall map depicting toe tags of migrants where remains were foundD
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Data Visualization As an Act of Witnessing

In late 2016, I read an article by Michael Brennan, principal of Detroit-based, nonprofit design firm Civilla, in the Harvard Business Review. I was haunted by this line: “I..

Spotlight on Community

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Nightingale Editors
December 22, 2022

Data Is Plural Submissions: London Stage Database

The inaugural Data Is Plural visualization challenge prompted readers to explore the London Stage Database, which describes 100,000+ performances in London from 1660 to 1880...
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Heather Jones
December 21, 2022

SPOTLIGHT: Tipping Points

Sometimes inspiration can come from a really bad thing. This was a personal project I made after the “Me Too” deluge in late 2017, when..
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Nightingale Editors
December 20, 2022

Dear Nightingale Submissions: Paper and NO Pencil

The inaugural Dear Nightingale analogue data visualization challenge prompted readers to create a handmade data object to visualise a personal dataset, using a piece of blank paper..
The cover of Building Science Graphics: An Illustrated Guide to Communicating Science through Diagrams and Visualizations, by Jen ChristiansenB
Núria Altimir
December 7, 2022

Building Science Graphics: Behind the Scenes with author Jen Christiansen

Jen Christiansen is senior graphics editor at Scientific American and has written the book Building Science Graphics: An Illustrated Guide to Communicating Science with Diagrams..

Celebrating the Dataviz of W.E.B. Du Bois

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W. E. B. Du Bois’ staggering Data Visualizations are as powerful today as they were in 1900 (Part 1)

One of the most powerful examples of data visualization was made 118 years ago by an all-black team led by W.E.B. Du Bois only 37..
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Data Journalism in the study of W.E.B. Du Bois’s “The Negro Problem” (Part 2)

One of the most powerful examples of data visualization was made 118 years ago by an all-black team led by W.E.B. Du Bois only 37..
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Exploring the Craft and Design of W.E.B. Du Bois’ Data Visualizations (Part 3)

One of the most powerful examples of data visualization was made 118 years ago by an all-black team led by W.E.B. Du Bois only 37..
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Style and Rich Detail: On Viewing an Original W.E.B. Du Bois Data Visualization (Part 4)

An all-black team led by W.E.B. Du Bois made one of the most powerful examples of data visualization 118 years ago, only 37 years after..
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The Legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois’s “The Exhibit of American Negroes” (Part 5)

An all-black team led by W.E.B. Du Bois made one of the most powerful examples of data visualization 118 years ago, only 37 years after..
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Discovering an Unknown Chart from W.E.B. Du Bois’s “The Exhibition of American Negroes” (Part 6)

Activist and sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois created “The Exhibit of American Negroes” at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris in collaboration with Booker T. Washington, prominent black..
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Jason Forrest
January 3, 2023

How to Solve It – and by It – I Mean *Anything*

I’m so smitten with learning that I fear I may be addicted to it. Imagine my delight when I learned about How To Solve It..
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Milán Janosov & Patrik Szigeti
December 23, 2022

FIFA World Cup 2022 – The Network Edition

After a long qualifying process packed with surprises (Italy missing out as the reigning European champions) and last minute drama (both Egypt and Peru missed..
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Jules Grandin
December 19, 2022

ThingsMap

En 2015, je travaille au journal Le Monde. Alors que je prends une pause sur la terrasse ensoleillée, un nuage fait son apparition au-dessus du..
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Jason Forrest
December 15, 2022

Behind the Scenes of “Unimaginable Death”

Below is an interview with the authors of “Unimaginable Death: Visualizations of COVID-19 Pandemic Milestones,” which appears this month as a supplement to Nightingale Magazine,..
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Silvia Romanelli
December 14, 2022

Fixing My Design Process from the Inside Out

Has this ever happened to you: you’ve just read one of those articles outlining the perfect design process: understanding your audience, defining an idea or..
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Nicolas Kruchten
December 13, 2022

IEEE VIS 2022 Highlights

IEEE VIS 2022 happened between October 16th and 22nd in Oklahoma City and I was really happy to have been able to attend in person...
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Erica Gunn
December 8, 2022

Step 4 in the Data Exploration Journey: Knowing When to Stop

This article is part V in a series on data exploration, and the common struggles that we all face when trying to learn something new...
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Letícia Pozza
December 6, 2022

A Camera That Prints the Futures We Envision – with a Bit of Help from an AI

One of the first things that made me fall in love with my husband was that in the early days of our nine-year relationship, he..
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Eli Holder
December 1, 2022

Unfair Comparisons: How Visualizing Social Inequality Can Make It Worse

Our new research shows how popular chart choices can trigger unconscious social biases and reinforce systemic racism. At first glance, the charts below seem harmless...
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Matt Brehmer
November 30, 2022

At the Vanguard of Interface Design

Implications for visualization from the 2022 UIST symposium The ways in which we interact with data and visualization may look and feel very different in..
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Or Misgav
November 29, 2022

SPOTLIGHT: Using Dataviz to Inform My Childcare Decisions

My son Ethan was 18-months old when he had his first daycare summer break. It was my first summer break as a mum, and I..
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Mrinal Ghosh
November 23, 2022

How to Locate and Understand the Reasons for Rising Land Surface Temperature

September 2022 has been one of the hottest Septembers in the last 143-years of global climate record, as per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration..
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Meet the Data Visualization King of Basketball Twitter: Todd Whitehead

Not long ago, I had the opportunity sit down with Todd Whitehead to discuss how he creates visualizations that dominate the discourse. Please note that..
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REVIEW: Functional Aesthetics for Data Visualization by Vidya Setlur and Bridget Cogley

The multi-disciplinary nature of the data visualization profession presents opportunities for fruitful collaboration while also leading to points of tension. One such source of tension..
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How to Get Executives on Board with Data Visualization

Convincing senior executives to jump on the data visualization bandwagon isn’t as complicated as you think: here are five tips to get senior decision-makers on..
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No Straight Lines: My Process Is Messy and Full of Failures and That’s Okay

The DVS Mentorship Program revolutionized my creative process: learning is iterative, failure is vital, growth comes in many forms, and straight lines are overrated.  No..
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When Oversimplification Obscures

When I first entered the information design space, I was eager to expand my knowledge of data (visualization) design and the wide range of disciplines..
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Data Storytelling Is the Conduit for Modern Data Literacy

All the images in this article are taken from a keynote about humanizing AI that I delivered in June 2022 at the London Tech Week...
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Say It in Icons! – The KomunIKON Project

My language limits are my world limits
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Why I Stopped Using Bullet Graphs (and What I Now Use Instead)

tl;dr: After teaching many data professionals about bullet graphs and using them in many dashboards, I started to notice that they had a fair number..
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Woven Time: Thoughts on Our Experience of Time in a Mashup

Our experience of time is simplest described like this: we move forward, and we measure periods by units like seconds, minutes, hours, etc. But I..
A data visualisation showing the flights and fates of the Soviet Space Dogs. Each dog is represented by a circle. Circle size shows the number of flights they undertook and circle colour indicates whether they survived, while a coloured tail shows the gender of the dog. Flights are represented by triangles along a timeline at the bottom. Triangle height shows the flight altitude and triangle colour shows the rocket type used. Dogs are connected by lines to the flights that they flew on.D
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Discovering Data Visualisation: How I Discovered and Fell in Love with Data Visualisation Art

I stumbled upon data visualisation art quite by accident early in 2022, at a time when I was at an interesting crossroads in my life...
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“I Can’t Draw” and Other Conversations I Always Have with My Dataviz Students

When you, like me, have been teaching for a while, you realize there’s a fundamental paradox: no two clusters of students are alike, yet all..
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Behind the Scenes of “The Future of Data Science”: An Interview with Ciera Martinez

A few months ago I had the pleasure of sitting down with Ciera Martinez to discuss the founding of the project, Data Science by Design,..
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Dataviz Horror Story: Miriam Quick

Have you ever made an embarrassing mistake in a data visualization? Did you utterly fail to meet your client’s or boss’s vision? Did you proudly..
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Playing Dataviz Tennis for Collaboration and Fun

Inspired by Layer Tennis, we collaborated on four data visualizations (four matches) where we swap the file back and forth adding to the work. Each..
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SPOTLIGHT: Do You Feel What Others Feel?

Emotions around the globe - Illustration by Gunilla Hagström
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Making a Data Collage for Dear Nightingale: Paper and NO Pencil

SNEAK PEEK: Nightingale Issue 2 is in design now! We’re so excited for you to see how your community has interpreted the theme of “Inspiration.”..
Overhead shot showing two watch faces situated to the left and right of the middle of a sheet of paper. Around both faces run three circles of five types of watch parts corresponding to different activities. Handwritten annotations help to discern the meaning of each part, highlighting differences between the authors’ days, like how “unpaid work” for Tomi means getting up at night for his children, while for Julcsi it’s studying Japanese and for Pisti it’s cooking.W
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What’s a “Handmade Data Object” Anyway?

This is an unusual viz — for a variety of reasons — so here’s a quick guide to reading it: the two dials represent twelve..
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Start with the Hero, Not the Story

To do a better job with data, take a moment to define your hero. Kat Greenbrook advises data analysts to start with the who, not..
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SPOTLIGHT: Animated Sports Results

This article is a summary of the animated data visualizations I’ve created for UEFA Euros 2020, Copa America, Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics (fencing, swimming), 19th..
Bridget and Vidya holding their book “Functional Aesthetics or data visualizationF
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Functional Aesthetics for Data Visualization: A Behind-the-Scene Q&A with the Authors

If you ever wondered how to make a visualization or a dashboard that’s beautiful and functional at the same time, then read on. I had..
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REVIEW: Cole Knaflic’s Storytelling with You: Plan, Create and Deliver a Stellar Presentation

We have all been on the receiving end of bad presentations. Slide decks with too much text, cluttered data visualizations and presenters who read from..

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Five Inspiring Data Visualization Galleries

If designed with care and preparation, data visualization can immensely improve viewers’ understanding of what is happening. Yes, data exploration and data analysis are essential,..
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Can We Understand Blood Test Results without Numbers? Ask Participant 23

About a year ago, I handed in my dissertation. I was examining new visualisation of blood test results amongst UK patients. The aim was to..
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What’s Cookin’?

Years ago, I took the advice of a famous writer whose name I can’t recall. He suggested that for an idea to be thoroughly examined,..
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REVIEW: Be Data Driven by Jordan Morrow

Following up on his first book, which considered data from the individual level, Jordan Morrow’s Be Data Driven looks at harnessing the power of data..
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Dreaming of Data

For as long as I can remember, I have struggled with getting a good night’s sleep. I have often gravitated towards staying up late at..
Tablet with bookshelves and students searching and reading information. Digital learning, online database, content storing and searching, ebooks concept. Vector isolated illustration.A
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A Tale of Books and Bias

Books were one of our first methods of data storytelling-beyond speaking or paintings. Humans turned data into words, and now we have begun to turn..
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Inspired by the Future: Star Trek and the Rise of Dataviz

The challenge of any piece of science fiction – be it literature, film or TV – is to present a complete and realistic view of..
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How Long Does It Take to Fall in Love?

Humans have long been curious about the process of dating and finding the right person. Now that we can swipe left and right on the..
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Game of Thrones — Network of the Dragon

One of my first data science projects was titled, Who Dies Next in the Game of Thrones?—a short article based on my data mining semester..
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Reasons to Visualise the Same Data, Differently

You may have heard, “data visualisation should tell a story” – but this is not always true. Data visuals are created for many reasons: from..
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Insights Of Their Own: Visualizing Women’s Baseball

Viz by the author.