There's a fine line between loving your work, and falling into a deep obsession. I don't pretend to understand the distinction, what some call an obsession, I call it loving learning and seeing a project through. I think it's very easy to become sucked in to something, when it's something that matters Read More...
Applying for jobs is scary, I'll be the first to say it. People are getting laid off left and right, and I, as a 23-year-old, have the audacity to say I have the ability and right to take those jobs, and that I'll make it worth an employer's while because I'm energetic, insanely devoted/obsessed and I have new media/programming skills Read More...
This week I tackled recreating Ben Fry's Zipdecode project, which he gives great step-by-step instructions for in his Visualizing Data book that I have been following along with this quarter. It's an interesting take on the concept of the scatterplot, even before using its interactive features, it asserts its usefulness as a population density map Read More...
Journalism in the modern era. What is it? I've got some ideas, and a lot of questions, but I certainly don't know the answer. It necessitates more than a story, more than an article, more than a photo, more than a Web page. I'm pretty certain of one thing, though: It's got to do with data, and probably to do with data-driven applications Read More...
When we think of computer-assisted reporting, large-scale investigative projects are often what first come to mind. There's no question of the value and impact such endeavors can have on society. But CAR has many other purposes, too. One is bringing evidence to and localizing breaking news, and helping people find out more about their communities Read More...
Computer-assisted reporting is important because of its potential for reporting and analysis. Visualization is important to present the information to readers. They both fall under the responsibilities of Ted Mellnik, database editor at the Charlotte Observer. His passion for data is as clear from a conversation with him as it is from his work Read More...
"Figure out what you want to do, and get really good at it." That's been the overarching advice I've heard in the past few weeks, as I seek to understand where I might fit in the "new media" world. It all sounds fine, although the more I meet interesting people who've been looking at data analysis and web presentation for a long time, the more it becomes apparent that getting "really good at it" is a lifelong endeavor Read More...
"Visual and Statistical Thinking: Displays of Evidence for Making Decisions," Edward Tufte, Visual Explanations This chapter gave practical examples of something I've been saying from almost the first day of my data analysis journey -- that it's absolutely fundamental that the decisions behind the analysis are shown to the reader/user Read More...
Recent Comments — Join the Discussion!