And more from the last week on Nightingale

We’re excited to introduce a new segment here on The ’Gale called “Three Questions With …” in which we, as you might guess, ask three questions to data visualization practitioners. The questions will stay the same but the people answering will not; we will feature designers, analysts, artists, curators, and more who work in data visualization.

For the inaugural “Three Questions With …” we caught up with Elijah Meeks. Elijah is the Chief Visualization Officer at Noteable.io and the Executive Director of the Data Visualization Society. He’s spent over a decade building and writing about data visualization. Thanks, Elijah!

Three Questions With … Elijah Meeks

1. If you could be any type of chart, what would you be?

I would be a network diagram because they’re inscrutable and intimidating and people love them without understanding them and they show up in the poshest places like movies and CEO slide decks and terrifying dreams.

2. If you were stuck on a desert island, what viz would you want to create and what would you use to make it?

I would make a 3D pie chart because, while it’s horrible as information visualization, it’s the only edible kind.

3. What is one visualization that has inspired you?

I love Ben Fry’s visualization of Darwin’s Origin of Species which I think was amazing in how it revealed that “static” or “finished” things like Darwin’s books are actually dynamic and evolving in a way that’s normally invisible.

In case you missed it …

Three Dynamic Texts to Include in Every Dashboard

“One of the first things you learn in data visualization is to get rid of words. Less text, less lines, less noise — less, less, less. So, why am I encouraging the use of more text? Because, to my chagrin, there are some things that are, and always will be, communicated more effectively with text.” Jenna Eagleson on how to use text effectively in the instances when it is needed.

When Data visualization and Art Collide With the Humble Org Chart

Kirell Benzi wrote about creating data art in the form of an org chart.

More from Nightingale

• Improve Your Visualization Skills Using Tufte’s Principles of Graphical Design
• The Future of Dataviz Festivals?
• The Data Are Not objective, and Neither Are You
• It’s Time to Break Up With the Pie Chart
• Connecting Pantone With Data Viz

Shop Nightingale and DVS Merch! The DVS store is officially open!

Three Questions With … Elijah Meeks! was originally published in Nightingale on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

From 2011 to 2019, HBO’s Game of Thrones dominated the hearts, minds, and TV screens of millions of viewers across the country. Outside of the occasional military map, there wasn’t much data visualization to be found in the world of Westeros. In our world, however, there was plenty.

It’s a testament to George R.R. Martin, whose A Song of Ice and Fire was adapted for TV, that his sprawling, mythological world lent itself so well to visualization. With hundreds of characters entangled in a complex (and betrayal-filled) political web covering multiple contents, there is basically as much to visualize in the world of Game of Thrones as in our own. Shelly Tan of the Washington Post visualized all 6,887 deaths in the series; For Vox, Kavya Sukumar examined the evolution of color throughout the seven seasons; here on Medium, Jeffrey Lancaster (no, not Lannister) visualized, well, practically everything.

An entire cottage industry of Thrones visualizations emerged online that mirrored the show’s ubiquity and cultural relevance. And while the show itself pulled viewers into its orbit, these visualizations pulled more and more practitioners into the rich intersection between data visualization and entertainment.

This was front of mind for us as we planned “Nightingale and Chill” Week. Our readers are well aware of the impact that data visualization has on the world—but data viz has a similarly powerful role for fictional worlds as well that deserves to be explored, and not just in relation to TV shows. Regardless of medium, visualizations can play an analytical role in untangling complex plots, making sense of characters, and reading into the details of a text. We can also create visualizations to engage with our favorite works of art, and to express our love and appreciation.

This is the spirit of Nightingale and Chill, our week-long exploration of data viz and entertainment: where they overlap and intersect, and how each can deepen our relationship to the other. Over the course of the week, we published eight articles and over 20,000 words. We covered films, books, games, and more. And we came away from the week with an even deeper appreciation for the things we love—and that includes data viz.

Visualize… Data… Action! What Dataviz Has in Common With Documentaries

Both forms of narrative storytelling employ a variety of techniques to inform and entertain. Data designers would be wise to learn from documentary filmmakers and consider how techniques such as the voice-over or reenactments can be applied to their own work. By Joshua Smith.

‘Hell Drivers’ Should Be More Than a Footnote in British Film History. Data Viz Shows Why.

This solar chart illustrates why Hell Drivers is at the center of the British film universe. By Jonathan Dunne and Andie Yam.

Museums Are Going Digital — and Borrowing From Data Viz in the Process

COVID-19 has fundamentally altered how museums operate, forcing many to add to their online collections. But providing online access to a museum’s collections and data is one thing, and developing a curated experience out of it is another. Here’s a survey of how different museums are approaching this task, and how many of them are drawing from data viz. By Maxene Graze.

Mapping “The Phantom Tollbooth”

“Before making a deep dive into various ways to discern the story of The Phantom Tollbooth, I was already in love with the work, but now that I’ve dissected it, the book holds a special kind of nuance.” By Emilia Ruzicka.

Charts: An Overlooked Source of Humor

An interview with the creators of Charty Party, the data visualization card game, on having fun with charts, data literacy and more. By Alyssa Bell.

Mapping My Literature Landscape

“Some of my pre-conceived notions were broken, and I picked up on some very interesting patterns I would’ve never seen if I hadn’t visualized it. Why haven’t I read adventure books since I was a kid? This is what is great about data and why I love it. Data is a mirror you can use to reflect upon yourself and confront your biases. What you do with it is then up to you.” By Nimit Shah.

How Tekken Reinvented My Data Visualization Design Process

Engaging the community around this fighting game challenged one designer to rethink—and ultimately remake—her approach to creating data visualizations. By Jane Zhang.

Viz What You Love

“Self-development, even through fun topics and unorthodox charts, is a journey. However, if you treat yourself to projects that you are passionate about, you’ll find yourself picking up neat tricks, greater speed, and a new zeal that will cross over into your day job in an amazing way.” By Zach Bowders.

DVS Submissions

Nightingale also solicited members of the DVS community to share the visualizations they’ve created of their favorite pieces of entertainment.

Hot 16 Challenge

Mateusz submit a project that visualized the popularity and rapid spread of an action that took place in Poland during lockdown. One rapper encouraged people to support the fundraising to fight COVID-19 by recording a 16-bar song. He nominated a few of his colleagues, and surprisingly, after two weeks, even the president of Poland had recorded … something. Mateusz wrote:

“I created an interactive chart that visualizes the nomination tree and lets people explore how all that progressed. The process? Data was publicly available, so fortunately that was not a problem. The design is very simple and prepared by a colorblind person. The biggest challenge was in handling scroll properly for the desired experience — and it could be improved in the end.”

Read more here.

Posterized

James has made several posters visualizing the connections between characters in movies. He shared his creations for Les Miserables, Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, and an overview of Romeo and Juliet.

You can find more of James’s work at his website and at his Instagram, @theposterboy.co.

Thanks for being part of Nightingale and Chill week! It was great fun and more than a little bit inspiring to see all the creativity. Until next time!

Yes, We’re Still Watching: Nightingale and Chill Week was originally published in Nightingale on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Introducing: The ’Gale

Nightingale’s newsletter is your new best way to stay up to date with the journal of the Data Visualization Society

It’s not a tropical storm, it’s not a bird, it’s not your mom’s friend (unless your mom is friends with Florence Nightingale, in which case it kind of is). No, The ’Gale is the new newsletter for Nightingale, the journal of the Data Visualization Society, and we are excited to present our first issue. In this installment, we’ll tell you a bit more about our plans for The ’Gale and update you on some recent stories and any news you may have missed.

Who are we?

Chances are, if you’re getting this email you are already familiar with Nightingale. But in case you aren’t, we are the publication of the Data Visualization Society. We aim to bring you high-quality writing about data visualization, including articles on important topics in the field, best practices, and applications across history, sports, science, entertainment, and more.

What can you expect?

The ’Gale will arrive in your inbox in regular installments, though it won’t always look the same. We’ll feature interviews with writers and visualization practitioners, exciting or unique datasets and visualization challenges, feature some of our favorite work, and fill you in on any of our articles that you may have missed. If we have site news or upcoming events (like “Nightingale and Chill” Week 👀 ), we’ll be sure to let you know about them.

In case you missed it

The Past, Present, and Future of Scrollytelling

“The thing is, scrollytelling isn’t about the scrolling anyway. It’s just a very realistic content consumption experience that stems directly from how we interact with computers. We can only consume one thing at a time. As we consume chunks of content, we want relevant supporting information in context. Scrolling is the way we place this content in front of ourselves for consumption.”

Scrollytelling is almost ubiquitous now, but it wasn’t always. Read more from Bill Shander about the origins of the form and what that can tell us about its future.

Constructing a Career in Dataviz: Finding Success

Promoting your own work is tricky business — in the third and final installment of Will Chase’s series on fashioning a career in data viz, he wrote about how to build a portfolio, share your work, and build a supportive community. Will’s boiled down his biggest advice into four important steps:

• Show your work
• Make a name for yourself
• Maintain your sanity and be patient
• Cultivate a community

Read more on how to turn your practice into a career.

Featured viz

“The difficulties we faced with our initial decisions led us to a binary choice: Were institutions going to hold classes in-person or would they be online-only?

This simple data point did two things: It threw our current higher-education landscape into sharp relief, and it pointed to the richness of human experience that lies behind the dots and circles on a map. Most schools in most states are incorporating at least some in-person classes, and are thus putting the most vulnerable members of their communities at risk.”

Read more from @akhenrichs and the Visionary Futures Collective about their initiative to map institutional COVID-19 responses throughout higher education and envision a build a remade academy. Click the image below to read more:

More from Nightingale

• How Public Speaking Can Help You Design Better Data Visualisations
• How We Visualized a Data Set That Contains Many Messages
• Improving the Visualization of Health Data on 2.3 Billion People
• In Pursuit of a New Golden Ratio
• Can I Get That Viz in Excel Please?
• Beyond Open-washing: Are Stories and Narratives the Future of Open Data Portals?
• Curating Curiosity: How Data Viz Can Enhance the Museum Experience
• How We Visualized a Data Set That Contains Many Messages

What else?

Nightingale has merch! You can finally broadcast your Nightingale fandom to the world with a T-shirt (men’s, women’s, different colors and styles), or just enjoy a data-viz-inspired cup of coffee.

In addition, we’ve got face masks, hoodies, socks, stickers, and more. Check out our online store.

Look out for:

Next week is “Nightingale and Chill” Week on Nightingale. We’ll be exploring the intersections between entertainment (books, TV shows, movies, etc.) and data visualization, and how visualizing elements of our favorite pieces of art can help us understand them more fully, and have fun doing it.

Thank you!

Thanks for subscribing to The ’Gale! Feel free to share it with friends, family, coworkers, and more. We are thrilled to be part of such a wonderful community around data viz and can’t wait for what’s to come.

Introducing: The ’Gale, a Newsletter From Nightingale was originally published in Nightingale on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

During the COVID-19 crisis, data visualization researchers and professionals have risen to the challenge, delivering widely used tools for public explanations, pandemic modeling, and government policy-making. Professor Ben Shneiderman highlights many of these excellent contributions in his article “Data Visualization’s Breakthrough Moment in the COVID-19 Crisis.”

Along with data visualization’s breakthrough moment, we’re seeing the “Dawn of a Philosophy of Visualization” that will guide the discipline forward. Alberto Cairo writes: “Writing about visualization doesn’t mean just writing about how to design visualizations, but also about what visualization is, why it is the way it is — and what it could be.”

We spend so much time and energy learning different visualization tools that sometimes we can forget those tools’ limitations. Sometimes getting the most out of our data viz doesn’t require learning a new technique within the same tool, but rather using different ones altogether. Christopher DeMartini wrote a guide to integrating non-Tableau tools in Tableau to expand your viz possibilities: “Use the Right Tool for the Job.”

Mary Aviles wrote about how Nikki Sylianteng’s passion for data viz has shaken up the hassle of street parking in several cities. In “Small, But Thoughtful: The Power of Naive Optimism,” she chronicles how Nikki’s To Park or Not to Park project went from an idea to a great example of civic-minded information design.

Don’t miss the simple trick that can transform your data viz, an elegant alternative to radar charts, the Data Viz Practitioner’s Guide to Table Design, the importance of data literacy during COVID-19, and small-multiples Pizza Baby!

Lastly, subscribe to the DVS’s YouTube page to watch fireside chats, tutorials, and more!

Data Viz’s Breakthrough Moment, Solving the Hassle of Parking, and Integrating Tools on Tableau was originally published in Nightingale on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Now that Earth Week has ended, I can confirm: We were correct.

The articles and visualizations we published over the last seven days highlighted Earth’s natural beauty, analyzed some of the ways we’ve visualized it, laid bare the ways we’ve impacted it, and called on us to make change. But rather than summarize each of the 13 articles, I will simply point you in the direction of our Earth Week hub and share our summary article, which compiles each of the stories and a few graphics.

Even though Earth Day and Week have technically passed, may the lessons and spirit of Earth Day continue to inform our work and lives.

In other news, check out the Data Visualization Society’s Youtube channel, featuring newly uploaded Fireside Chats on using color in data viz, how to visualize public health data responsibly, and mapping, with more to come. To learn more or join the conversation, you can sign up to join the DVS here.

Celebrating Earth Week With Data Visualization was originally published in Nightingale on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, data journalism has come front and center. It has proved to be a reliable and effective way to communicate information about not only the spread and magnitude of the coronavirus but also how individuals can do their part to flatten the curve. This week, Nightingale spoke with two journalists whose work has stood out even amidst an “infodemic.”

The titular quote came from our interview with John Burn-Murdoch, a data journalist for the The Financial Times who created the widely circulated log scale charts. He spoke with Jason Forrest about creating the visualization, how it has changed over time, how the nature of his work has changed during the time of COVID-19.

Tricia Aung interviewed two members of the Reuters graphics team about their coronavirus coverage. They covered the design process, making hard decisions about data, and how they consider their audience when creating visualizations. Along with the Burn-Murdoch interview, the conversation sheds light on what it’s like for data journalists when the biggest story in the world demands your services.

You can find both interviews and the rest of Nightingale’s coverage of COVID-19 here.

Ekta Khanchandani published an analysis of global park mobility rate during the age of social distancing, which offers an interesting opportunity to compare the approaches of different governments to mitigate the spread. Check out Theresa-Marie Rhyne on how to create a harmonious blue color gradient using Adobe Color and Viz Palette, and my interview with the cofounder and editor of the literary project Territory.

Nightingale has something very special planned for next week. In honor of Earth Day on April 22, we will publish earth-related data-visualization content all week. Data viz can enhance our appreciation of the planet, illuminate our relationship to it, and call us to action to preserve it. After all, we only have one and it means the world to us. Check back on Monday for our centralized Earth Week hub so you can keep up with all of our articles as they come out.

And as always, you can pitch your own ideas to Nightingale at pitchnightingale@gmail.com.

Data Journalism During COVID-19: “This is the biggest story as a data journalist that I’ve ever… was originally published in Nightingale on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.