Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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Read on…: Indonesia’s Sunken Submarine
A few years ago, I created a piece about the missing Argentine submarine ARA San Juan. For those that do not remember, back in 2017, the Argentine Navy Type 1700 submarine ARA San Juan disappeared on a voyage from Ushuaia to Mar del Plata. At the time, people thought it may have sunk over the continental shelf where the seafloor…
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Lather, Rinse, Repeat
Read on…: Lather, Rinse, RepeatLast Friday I received my first dose of the vaccine, and I’m not counting the time until my second and then the two weeks after that to let it take effect. It also means that the repetition can begin to end. Over at Indexed, Jessica Hagy sort of captured that idea in a single Venn diagram. Credit for the piece…
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The Super Short European Super League
Read on…: The Super Short European Super LeagueSunday night, news broke that a number of European football clubs were creating a rogue league, the European Super League. My British and European readers—and Americans who follow football—will know the names of Manchester United, Liverpool, AC Milan, Juventus, Real Madrid, and the others. To put this in perspective for my American readers, imagine the Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, Astros,…
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Party Time Post-Vaccine
Read on…: Party Time Post-VaccineIf all goes according to plan, your author today will receive his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, the Pfizer variety for the curious. As such, it feels appropriate to share this recent piece from xkcd. All joking aside, it should be said that, and as this graphic illustrates, just because you receive your first dose, doesn’t mean you should…
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Choropleths…Again
Read on…: Choropleths…AgainAdmittedly, I was trying to find a data set for a piece, but couldn’t find one. So instead for today’s post I’ll turn to something that’s been sitting in my bookmarks for a little while now. It’s a choropleth map from the US Census Bureau looking at population change between the censuses. The reason I have it bookmarked is for…
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Building Back Better Boston Transit
Read on…: Building Back Better Boston TransitThe alliteration failed at that last word, but it gets the point across. No mater how you may want to define infrastructure, the term always includes transit. In the Boston Globe, an opinion piece proposed how the city and region of Boston could improve upon the city’s mass transit options. And they made a map. The map is an interesting…
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Choropleths and Colours Part 2
Read on…: Choropleths and Colours Part 2Last Thursday I wrote about the use of colour in a choropleth map from the Philadelphia Inquirer. Then on Sunday morning, I opened the door to collect the paper and saw a choropleth above the fold for the New York Times. I’ll admit my post was a bit lengthy—I’ve never been one described as short of words—but the key point…