37 - Data Visualization with Jeff Fletcher

We tackle data visualization in its full technicolor glory!

Kenneth, Kevin & Len are joined by Jeff Fletcher from IS Research & Innovation to talk about data visualization. Jeff has been working in the internet business for quite some time, from JINX to Telkom, Antfarm to IS, UUNet to 365 and finally back to R&I at Internet Solutions. We met Jeff a few years ago at Jozi.rb where he gave a D3 talk that blew everyone away. Since then Jeff has studied the art of successful data visualization and shares with us all the intricacies of generating effective graphics to communicate complex ideas.

We got a history lesson on the origins of data visualization, starting with cartography and Florence Nightingale! We learn how visualization helped stop a cholera outbreak too! Jeff freely shared his knowledge and resources with us and we hope you can use all this to improve your own visualizations.

Follow Jeff online:

• https://twitter.com/fletch_jeff
• http://limn.co.za

Here are some resources mentioned during the show:

• D3 at Jozi.rb - http://www.meetup.com/joziruby/events/180219732/
• Hype Cycle - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle
• D3.js - https://d3js.org/
• Tableau - http://www.tableau.com/
• QlikView - http://www.qlik.com/products/qlikview
• Highcharts - http://www.highcharts.com/
• Cartography - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartography
• Nightingales's Graph - http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1712.htm
• John Snow's Cholera Map - http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/mar/15/john-snow-cholera-map
• Edward Tufte - http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/
• Ben Fry - http://benfry.com/
• Mike Bostock - https://bost.ocks.org/mike/
• Protoviz (predecessor to D3) - http://mbostock.github.io/protovis/
• Three.js - http://threejs.org/
• C3.js - http://c3js.org/
• Stephen Few - https://www.perceptualedge.com/
• Stephen Few's Show Me The Numbers - http://bit.ly/1N7e3zq
• WTF Visualizations - http://viz.wtf/
• Data-Ink Ratio - http://www.infovis-wiki.net/index.php/Data-Ink_Ratio
• iPhone Pie Chart trick - http://www.wired.com/2008/02/macworlds-iphon/
• ColorBrewer 2.0 by Cynthia Brewer - http://colorbrewer2.org/
• ColorBrewer with D3 - https://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/5577023
• Gestalt Principle - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology
• RStudio - https://www.rstudio.com/
• Wazimap - http://wazimap.co.za/
• Data Visualization and Communication with Tableau - https://www.coursera.org/learn/analytics-tableau
• CS171 Visualization (Harvard) - http://www.cs171.org/2016/index.html
• Dana Wong - http://donawong.com/
• Dana Wong's Wall Street Guide to Information Graphics - http://bit.ly/1oVndUa
• Information is Beautiful - http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/
• Dear Data - http://www.dear-data.com/all
• Visualize This - http://book.flowingdata.com/

Picks

• Kevin
  • Episode 26 - Open Data and Civic Hacking with Jason Norwood-Young
• Kenneth
  • Information is Beautiful
  • Minard's visualization of Napoleon's March
  • Among the Oscar Contenders, a Host of Connections
• Len
  • Johannesburg Clojure Meetup
• Jeff
  • The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
  • OECD Better Life Index
  • Real time global wind map

Thanks for listening!

See all past picks on our picks page.