Monthly Update: August, 2024
Hey folks! I hope you are having a great summer. Things look pretty quiet online, which is good! We all need some rest. I have been actively working in June and July, and I’ll try to take a couple of weeks off now. So, if you don’t hear much from me, that’s because I will be recharging my batteries 🪫🔋. Nonetheless, there is a lot going. Here is a summary of some of the major projects.
RhetVis
I have been more active in developing my Rhetorical Data Visualization course online In June and July. Early this month, I published a new video lecture on “Data Transformation.”
In the lecture, I explain the many decisions one can make when preparing data for a visualization and how these decisions impact interpretation and can lead to misinterpretation.
The following week, I published a call for participation in a pilot program I set up to get a preview of the course.
My intent is to make the course available to a group of FILWD subscribers and get feedback before the course is finally launched. This is a unique opportunity to get free training and participate in the course design. If you are interested, you can still sign up here.
The response to this request has been incredible, and I have received way more sign-ups than I expected. If you are reading this and have already signed up, expect an email from me soon. The number of people who signed up is way more than I can handle, so I will have to find a way to choose a subgroup for the pilot program.
FILWD Chats
This month, I published a new video chat. This time, I talked with Stephen Osserman about the visualization of simulated data as opposed to observed data. This is a greatly overlooked area of data visualization that should be developed more. Take a look at the video and see what you think.
On a side note, I have been considering whether to transform these chats into a podcast you can listen to using your preferred podcast application. Substack makes turning these chats into a podcast very easy, so it can be done with basically one click. If you think you would like to listen to the FILWD as a podcast, please leave a comment below to let me know.
PhD Summer School
In August, I am organizing a PhD summer school in data visualization with Arvind Satyanarayan from MIT and our fantastic PhD students Sydney Purdue and Dylan Wootton. If you are in the region and want to participate, it is still possible to register and attend. The event is between August 12-13 and will occur at Northeastern University. You can review the agenda here: https://vizphdsummerschool.github.io/
Future Plans
As the summer goes by, I am trying to find a balance between the need for rest and the excitement of the many ongoing projects. For the Fall, my main focus will be on launching the RhetVis course and finishing the series on Visualization for Machine Learning (I hope to turn it into a book eventually!). But all the rest will also need to keep moving, including weekly posts, FILWD chats, reading clubs, etc.
I am looking forward to taking many more steps. In the meantime, I wish everyone a happy summer. Enjoy the sun!!! ☀️☀️☀️