Category: My Work

  • David Petraeus for Secretary of State—No

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    Brendan Barry
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    I am very closely following the transition of power from President Obama to President-elect Trump. And one of the very surprising news stories has been that Trump is considering David Petraeus for Secretary of State. Given the controversy and campaign rhetoric against and surrounding Hillary Clinton for alleged mishandling of classified information as Secretary of…

  • Deportation of Immigrants

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    Brendan Barry
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    Donald Trump announced how he wants to deport 2–3 million undocumented immigrants that have criminal convictions or that belong to gangs. I read up on the issue at FiveThirtyEight and came across the following graphic from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, when I review the graphic, I found it difficult to understand…

  • Detroit’s Housing Market

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    Brendan Barry
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    A few weeks ago the Wall Street Journal published a graphic that I thought could use some work. I like line charts, and I think line charts with two or three lines that overlap can be legible. But when I see five in five colours in a small space…well not so much. So I spent…

  • Raining Maps Monday

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    Brendan Barry
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    One of the things I like about Chicago’s WGN network is its weather blog. They often include infographic-like content to explain weather trends or stories. But as someone working in the same field of data visualisation and information design, I sometimes find myself truly confused. That happened with this piece last Friday. The map in…

  • National Heights

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    Brendan Barry
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    And by this title I am not referencing McKinleys, K2s, or Everests. No, the BBC published this piece on the changing average heights of citizens of various countries. This was the graphic they used from the report’s author. Personally speaking, I do not care for the graphic. It is unclear and puts undue emphasis on…

  • Septa’s Silverliner Service Shutdown

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    Brendan Barry
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    Two weeks ago Philadelphia regional rail commuters, a large group to which I belonged for a number of years, experienced a week from hell. On 2 July a yard inspector for Septa, the Philadelphia region’s transit agency, discovered a Silverliner V railcar tilting. For those not familiar with Septa, the Silverliner Vs have been in…

  • Not All Charts Are Necessary Part 2

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    Brendan Barry
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    Monday I examined a chart from the BBC that in my mind needlessly added confusing visual components to what could have been a straight table. So here we take a look at some other options that could have been used to tell the same story. The first is the straight forward table approach. Here I…

  • World Income

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    Brendan Barry
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    Over the weekend I found myself curious about the notion of a growing global middle class. So I dug up some data from the Pew Research Center and did some analysis. The linked piece here details that analysis. I go into more detail than just a map. Hopefully you enjoy the piece and find the…

  • Where Is Pennsyltucky?

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    Brendan Barry
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    So last week I mentioned Pennsyltucky in my blog post about Pennsylvania’s forthcoming importance in the election. And then on Friday I shared a humourous illustrated map of Pennsylvania that led into an article on Pennsyltucky. But where exactly is it? Luckily for you, I spent a good chunk of my weekend trying to find…

  • Comparing Economic and Political Freedom

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    Brendan Barry
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    Today’s post is just a little scatter plot today of my own creation. I was interested to see which countries fall outside the mainstream when it comes to economic and political freedom, as measured by the Heritage Foundation and Freedom House, respectively. Those are certainly not the only indices that I could have chosen, however,…