I'm back!

I am not sure what I even mean when I write that I am back. I think I mean that I used to have a blog called FILWD (many years ago!) and I am starting some sort of “blogish” newsletter after a super long hiatus. Since then, so much has changed that I won’t even try to summarize it here.

Well … what’s the goal of this?

I am not sure I have to the full picture yet, but I have been feeling the need to express myself beyond twitter threads for a while. And at the same time I also feel like I have, once again, some interesting thoughts to share with the world.

So … what do I plan to cover here and who might be interested in it?

My work is in data visualization and (the human aspects of) data science and I see myself wearing two main hats: I am an educator and I am a researcher (not surprising since I am also a university professor).

As an educator, I spend a lot of time figuring out what is the best way to teach data visualization (and related topics) to other people. I have a lot of experience doing that with university students but I feel like the world is much wider than that. So, one of the goals of this newsletter is to build a bigger bridge (or maybe more bridges?) so that I will be able to teach things to more people and to people with different backgrounds and needs.

As a researcher, my main goal is to advance the state of the art and to produce new knowledge people can use. While I mostly do that the traditional way, by publishing papers, I always felt there are many people who want to learn from research while not participating actively in it. So, another goal of this newsletter is to build this other bridge and find ways to communicate research to practitioners, students and data enthusiasts.

Is that all?

I am not sure. I expect to cover more as things progress and evolve. For instance, I can certainly see another connection between education and research: helping graduate students navigate the rough waters of academia. And being an academic myself, I expect to just write sometime about academia and its many idiosyncrasies.

These are some of the “profiles” I have in mind when I think about who may be interested in reading what I plan to write.

If you are an established data practitioner or educator, my goal is to share research work with you that you may potentially find interesting and that you may eventually integrate in your own work. I have some pretty good “signal detection“ from the research world.

If you are an aspiring data practitioner or educator, my goal is to produce material you will find useful to boost your education. In fact, a secondary goal here is to learn more about what people need and create educational products to advance their education.

If you are a current or aspiring PhD student, my goal is to share tips and ideas that can help you during your journey in academia. I received a lot from people as a student and as a young researcher, and my aspiration is to find a way to give back. So, please do feel free to reach out to me.

If you are an academic or researcher, well … welcome to my world mate! What I have to offer here is sparks of ideas. Half-baked thoughts. Maybe some provocations. Things we may end up reasoning on together. In my view, research happens too much in the dark, whereas my aspiration is to show some of raw materials. I am not asking you to do the same, but maybe you want to walk with me through some of these steps?

I am writing this in the hope you will recognize yourself in one of these profiles so that it’s clearer to you why you might want to read my newsletter. But if you don’t fall into any of these categories, no worries! Hang around and see if you like what you see.

One last thing. Why a newsletter?

By having direct access to your inbox, I hope I can get a better sense of who is interested in what I write and, as a consequence, learn more about how I can serve everyone better. This is a very unique aspect of this platform. I know that this is also a responsibility, so I will do my best not to hit you with unwanted messages.

I am also fascinated by the idea of monetization. I am not sure how to do that yet. And maybe I will never monetize anything at all here. But maybe, I will also be able to produce something that requires considerable effort and that people think it’s fair to support financially. In that case, it would be interesting to explore monetization solutions that both you and I find valuable and fair.

Finally, please do reach out to me! This is my little space to learn more about you and how I can serve the world better. I have some tiny little knowledge and I think I can help some people when they want to learn some of that knowledge. The more I know about you, the better I can serve you.

Let’s get this started! Wish me luck.