2024

Shrinking down to the size of an atom

Infographics / Epic Spaceman, scale, small

In a different take on showing the scale of very tiny things, Epic…

Age differences between world leaders and the populations they serve

Statistical Visualization / age, government, Washington Post

The ages of American presidential candidates are old when compared to the ages…

Estimating Covid deaths

Statistics / coronavirus, counting, estimation, Howtown

It’s impossible to know the exact number of Covid deaths worldwide, because consistent…

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Visualization Tools and Learning Resources, June 2024 Roundup

The Process / roundup

Here is the good stuff for the month.

Searching for the hardest and easiest Spelling Bee puzzels

Statistics / Christopher Wolfram, game, Spelling Bee

Christopher Wolfram explains his “unnecessarily detailed analysis” of the spelling game from the…

Decade-Long Battle for “Yogurt” vs. “Yoghurt” on Wikipedia

Data Underload / spelling, Wikipedia, yogurt

After years of enthusiastic discussions, editors eventually and begrudgingly came to a conclusion.

Changing climate zones of major cities

Infographics / climate, Derek Taylor, global warming, Pudding

A global map of climate change can make a few degrees of rising…

Trendy baby name sounds

Statistical Visualization / names, trends, Washington Post

For WP’s Department of Data, Daniel Wolfe analyzed baby name data with Laura…

Where State Farm Insurance is dropping home policies

Maps / insurance, San Francisco Chronicle, State Farm

State Farm won’t be renewing about 30,000 policies because of high wildfire and…

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Games to Explore Data and Possibilities

The Process / games, uncertainty

Visualization and analysis is usually about minimizing uncertainty to more clearly see patterns. On the other hand, games force you to play through uncertainty.

Perplexity is probably stealing content

Artificial Intelligence / ethics, ownership, Perplexity, Wired

For Wired, Dhruv Mehrotra and Tim Marchman provide evidence that Perplexity, an AI-based…

AI-generated email from a friend

Statistics / AI, email, Neven Mrgan

Neven Mrgan describes what it was like to get an AI-generated email from…

Heat tracker for the U.S.

Statistical Visualization / heat, New York Times, warning

It’s abnormally hot in a large portion of the United States, and it’s…

See Who is Older and Younger than You

Data Underload / age, old, young

As you get older, it might start to feel like everyone is getting younger around you. At what point are you older than the majority?

Analysis of Sudoku play patterns

Self-surveillance / game, Sudoku, Vivek Rao

Vivek Rao likes to play Sudoku, enough that he collected data on his…

Probabilistic Tic-Tac-Toe

Statistics / Cameron Sun, game, probability, uncertainty

Thinking about life and randomness, Cameron Sun modified the classic game of Tic-Tac-Toe.…

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Towards Unfamiliar Data Representation

The Process / beginners, possibilities

Visualization tends towards familiarity and convenience, which is useful for getting things done and reading data quickly. But the familiar is also less fun and can be stifling.

Occupation and Salary Rankings, Each Decade Since 1970

Data Underload / income, rank, work

Job types changed over the years, because there were these things called computers that created occupations and shifted others. How did income change for different jobs, relative to everyone else?