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Category: Data-related Events

• Notes from Interactive Infographics #interinfo #sxsw

  Posted Mar 17, 2010 to Data-related Events, Infographics / 5 comments

  

  Yesterday was the Interactive Infographics panel at South by Southwest, and if Twitter is any indication of how it went, I'd say the panel had a captivated audience. I wouldn't expect anything less from the four panelists, Ben Fry (Processing), Shan Carter (NYT), Casey Caplowe (Good), and Eric Rodenbeck (Stamen)

  Unfortunately, I didn't get to attend, but luckily I was able to follow the play-by-play on Livefyre (sort of a cross between chat and forum) along with some excellent notes from @jpmarcum and @bryanconnor. Here are the important bits I was able to glean.

  The bulk of the time was spent showcasing the work from the four groups. I think you can find most of the projects through FlowingData. Just use the search form on the bottom right of this page. The good stuff came towards the end during the Q&A.
  Continue Reading

• Undergraduate Summer Program for Statistics

  Posted Feb 5, 2010 to Data-related Events / 6 comments

  

  If you're an undergraduate with an interest in data and statistics, you should definitely consider applying to this one-week summer program: Explorations in Statistics Research. It's in Boulder, Colorado and your travel expenses, along with room and board, will be covered.

  The seven day workshop is designed so that students get a sense of how statisticians approach large, complex problems. Several different topics will be presented over the course of the week.

  You'll also get hands-on experience with computing and visualization tools. Basically, you're going to have fun with data when you're there.

  And since three of the four organizers are either past or current advisers of mine, I can tell you first-hand that you're going to learn some cool stuff during the workshop.

  Get your application in now. The deadline is March 3.

• What day is it? It’s Data Privacy Day!

  Posted Jan 28, 2010 to Data-related Events / 3 comments
  

  Today is Data Privacy Day 2010, apparently. Was there a Data Privacy Day 2009? I dunno. To be honest, I didn't even care all that much about data privacy a couple years ago.

  But it's grown in importance as everything goes digital (and Google acquires every business under the sun).

  Take a moment and think about what Google knows about you. Correspondence and contacts via email, schedule via calendar, interest via feed reader, purchases via Checkout, and most importantly your day-to-day via search. How do you feel about a single company knowing that much about you? Don't you want to know how they use all that data and more importantly, how they protect it?
  Continue Reading

• Join the Great American Hackathon

  Posted Nov 11, 2009 to Data-related Events / 2 comments
  

  
  Sunlight Labs, one of my new favorite data groups, has partnered with Google, RedHat, Mozilla, and several others to get the open source community involved in open government projects. They're calling it the Great American Hackathon and it's happening December 12-13.

  For those unfamiliar with Sunlight, it's an organization that promotes open government data and transparency, and they fund technology projects (mainly online apps) that move this idea forward.

  Organize an Event

  If you're a developer or designer and want to help out, organize an event in your local area for December 12-13, and get as many people involved as you can. The more we make use of open government data, the more people that will see its usefulness, and the more people that care, the more the government will put into data. Get involved now.

• Workshop: Visualization on the Web – Join Me at VisWeek

  Posted Jun 29, 2009 to Data-related Events / Add your comment

  Visualization on the Web is growing, but a lot of the really good stuff is just sitting around on someone's computer. So to get a discussion going about how we can get more visualization out there - theory and application - Robert Kosara of Eager Eyes, Andrew Vande Moere from information aesthetics, and myself are heading up a workshop at VisWeek in October. It's in Atlantic City.

  We'll share some of our experiences, but mainly we want to know what's on your mind. Submit your one-page position statement and tell us about your experiences, propose discussion topics, or ask questions that you're wondering about. We'll review the topics and you'll hear from us by the end of July. Get your submissions in by July 17.

  Find more details here.

• Non-profit Seeks Infographic Designer

  Posted Jun 11, 2009 to Data-related Events / 1 comment

  Are you an information designer looking for a project?

  The East-West Center in Washington is currently looking for a designer to create a series of information graphics for an online and print publication. They want a series of graphics that will cover a broad range of topics from economics, politics, demographics, history and culture. They provide the data, and you provide the creativity.

  The job description is a little wordy, but basically, they just want to see your portfolio and a sense of what kind of work you do. You can find more details here. It sounds like a fun opportunity.

• Turning Statistics Into Knowledge – 3 Days Left to Sign Up

  Posted Apr 27, 2009 to Data-related Events / 3 comments

  The US Census Bureau, World Bank, and OECD have organized a seminar to discuss innovations in visualization and blossoming Web technologies to disperse the stories in data. Innovative Approaches to Turn Statistics into Knowledge will be held July 15-16, 2009 in Washington, D.C.

  While dynamic graphics and communication tools are at the heart of the seminar, we also want to focus on a broader range of tools. The seminar will also include the use of videos, as explored by GapMinder and others, and participative approaches, as seen in some web 2.0 initiatives; and – although innovative tools are themselves of great interest, and worthy of being presented at the seminar – the focus of the seminar will be on innovative applications of tools, for example, so-called story-telling applications.

  With participants [pdf] from all over the world and major organizations, and no registration fee, the seminar looks promising. Hurry though, there are only three days left to sign up. The deadline is April 30.

• Do You Want to Learn How to Make Statistical Graphics?

  Posted Mar 14, 2009 to Data-related Events / 6 comments

  If you're interested in learning how to use R for statistical graphics or tools like GGobi for exploratory data analysis, check out this workshop in Washington, DC during the end of July right before the annual Joint Statistical Meetings. The workshop's called Looking at Data.

  Graphics are a fundamental part of data analysis, used in initial data inspection and exploration, model building and checking and also communicating information. In this course we will teach the basics of static graphics and move on to the new developments in direct manipulation and dynamic graphics that facilitate exploratory data analysis. The methods taught are readily available in open source software, enabling all participants to reproduce, extend and use them with their own data after the workshop.

  This workshop will be focused on the analytical side of things (after all, three statisticians are running it) with static graphics on day 1 and dynamic graphics on day 2, so if you're interested in learning graphics for analysis, this should be fun.