Tag: critique

  • Tracking Polls One Week Out

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Well the election is next Tuesday, and last Friday and this past weekend was…interesting. So one(ish) week to go, and we are going to turn to a few posts that use data visualisation and graphics to explore topics related to the election. Today we start with the latest tracking polls, released on Friday. The piece…

  • Early Voting So Far

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    70+ million people watched the debate last week. But, 2.5 million people have already voted. Me? Well in Pennsylvania there is no early voting, so you queue up on Election Day. But that also means I will have had the full election season to brush up on candidates for president and all the other offices.…

  • Baselines Are Important

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Last week the Washington Post published a fascinating article on the data visualisation work of the Donald Trump media campaign. In my last job I frequently harped on the importance of displaying the baseline and/or setting the baseline to zero. When you fail to do so you distort the data. But maybe that is the point…

  • Follow the State’s Money

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    In politics, it is really easy and often popular to bash the federal government. Especially when it comes to its penchant for collecting taxes to pay for things. And sometimes those things are in other states than your own. But do you know how much federal money goes back to your own state? Well now…

  • Raining Maps Monday

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    Brendan Barry
    in ,

    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…

  • OD’ing in Philly

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Another day in Philadelphia, another post of Philly data visualisation work. Here we have a piece from 2015 that was updated earlier this spring. It looks at overdose rates in the Philadelphia region, including parts of New Jersey. It does include a map, because most pieces like this typically do. However, what I really find interesting about…

  • Where do Philly’s Cops Live?

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    I am on holiday for a few days and am visiting Philadelphia. So what better time to cover some Philadelphia-made content? This interactive piece came out last year from Philly.com alongside coverage of the Philadelphia mayoral contest. I want to call out the colour palette for the choropleth in particular. We can see a blue…

  • National Heights

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    Brendan Barry
    in ,

    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…

  • In Putin’s Russia Steroids Dope You

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    I mean really, given the rampant and pervasive nature of the Russian state-aided doping programme, how could I not use the Russian reversal? Yesterday WADA, the international anti-doping agency, released its findings on Russian doping at the Olympics. And, suffice it to say, the report is rather damning. The BBC published this graphic in an…

  • Comparing the Brexit Results Designs: Part 3

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Last one of these critiques—I promise. Earlier this week I looked at the New York Times’ coverage and the BBC’s coverage. Well, today I want to examine the Guardian’s coverage of the Brexit vote results. This piece differs the most from the preceding work and it starts right from the top, literally. I am not the biggest fan of the…