Welcome back to the show! As you may know, I’m a big fan of data and research that shows how we do or don’t acquire information. But so much of that research–or purported research, I should say–sits on dubious methods or is often just made up! Sometimes numbers about how fast our brains process information,…
I’m very excited to welcome Kennedy Elliott to this week’s episode of The PolicyViz Podcast. Kennedy is a member of the graphics department at the Washington Post and part of the team that recently won a Pulitzer Prize for their work on police shootings in the U.S. Kennedy also recently gave a talk at the…
Welcome back to the show! This week, I’m pleased to have Max Galka join me on the show. Max is a data enthusiast and has created a lot of great visualizations, ranging from such topics as immigration, traffic, and climate change. On this episode, we talk about his various projects, what drives him to create…
This week’s episode was recorded live at NPR in Northeast Washington, DC with Supervising Senior Editor of the NPR Visuals team, Brian Boyer. No, I didn’t get to sit in one of the fancy chairs, but I did get to hit the gift shop! Anyways, on this week’s episode, Brian and I discuss a variety…
I read this interesting article by Damon Darlin in the Upshot at the New York Times the other day. In it, he writes about how the size of new homes in the U.S. has risen over time, both by square footage and by the number of bathrooms and bedrooms (data are from the Census Bureau). If…
Welcome back to the show! On this week’s episode, I’m pleased to welcome Rebecca Williams and Eric Reese from the Center for Government Excellence at the Johns Hopkins University. We talk about all things open data, open technology, and how GovEx is helping cities improve the way they use and utilize data. I hope you’re…
Welcome back to the PolicyViz Podcast. Thanks for tuning in each week to hear about people doing great work in data, open data, data visualization, and other related fields. In this week’s show, I’m happy to have Isabel Meirelles join me to talk about data visualization, her research, and her upcoming conference, Information+. We cover…
This is sort of a special, non-podcast version of The PolicyViz Podcast. I asked Jorge Camões, author of the new book Data at Work, to join me on the podcast. After months of seclusion to finish his book, Jorge is finally shaving, but he’s still brushing up his conversations skills. Instead, Jorge was happy to answer my…
Welcome back to the PolicyViz Podcast! I’m pleased to welcome Andy Cotgreave and Andy Kriebel to the show this week. Each week, The Andys, as it were, are the primary authors of the Makeover Monday project in which they–and dozens of others–remake a visualization. In our conversation, we talk about the process of remaking a…
In a recent article about the political geography in Scotland, The Guardian created a tile grid map, but instead of inserting text in the grid, they inserted Sankey diagrams. It was an interesting approach, and Alberto Cairo remarked that, “I feel like the charts on the main map could have been bigger, but I like…
I’m pleased to be joined by Seth Blanchard this week on the show. Seth is a Senior Developer on the engineering team of the graphics department at the Washington Post. He helps develop new story forms and smooths development process issues. We talk about a variety of projects he’s worked on, both front- and back-end,…
Recorded along the lovely Boston Harbor (enjoy the outdoor sounds), in this week’s episode of The PolicyViz Podcast, I chat with Lane Harrison, Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. We not only talk about Lane’s interesting research in data visualization–including how emotions affect our perception of graphs and content–but also the…
This is a guest post from David Napoli, a BI & Analytics Director (and recovering rocket scientist) who has worked as lead actuary, statistician, and headed up analytics departments for several healthcare organizations over the last 20 years. In a couple of posts on this site, Jon wrote a step-by-step guide on how to construct…
Today I’m pleased to announce that my book on creating and delivering better presentation design is available for pre-order! Better Presentations: A Guide for Scholars, Researchers, and Wonks (published by Columbia University Press) ships this fall. I wrote this book because I believe people who work with data and data-intensive content need to improve the way…
In this week’s episode of The PolicyViz Podcast, I chat with Marie Whittaker from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) in Washington, DC. With a small team responsible for providing economic insight to DC’s Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and dozens of local agencies, DMPED is responsible for collecting, analyzing, and…
