As well as just being plain old fun, data can also be an enabler for "good" in the world. Several organisations are clearly aware of this; both Tableau and Alteryx now have wings specifically for doing good. There are whole organisations set up to promote beneficial uses of data, such as DataKind, and a bunch of … Continue reading #VisualizeNoMalaria: Let’s all help build an anti-Malaria dataset
Category: In the news
Is the EU referendum actually a great conspiracy?
(Sorry to anyone bored by the great/hideous Brexit referendum - this is the last post on the topic, well, at least until the event actually happens 🙂 ) Today is the day! All us UK citizens can cast our direct-democracy vote as to whether the UK should remain in the EU, or say goodbye. It's been a long, torrid, at times revolting, … Continue reading Is the EU referendum actually a great conspiracy?
Brexit: Which newspapers support Leave and which Remain?
Being a glutton for punishment, another Brexit question struck me. Which newspapers are formally standing in the Leave camp, and which in the Remain? This question might strike you as beyond obvious based on the typical political outlook they adhere to and the output of their columnists - but it turns out it's not as straightforward as I … Continue reading Brexit: Which newspapers support Leave and which Remain?
The EU referendum: do voters understand what they’re voting on?
The UK's EU referendum is now less than a week away. We're each going to individually vote on something that could dramatically affect the future of our lives and even the structure of society the UK, so it's a potentially important one. Recent sick tragedies have added to the mess that is the provably wrong claims from the Leave camp, and the responses that seem … Continue reading The EU referendum: do voters understand what they’re voting on?
Future features coming to Alteryx 10.6 and beyond
One of my favourite parts of attending the ever-growing Alteryx Inspire 2016 conference and its like is hearing about the fun new features that tools such as the wonderful Alteryx are going to make available soon. It's always exciting to think about how such developments might improve our job efficiency, satisfaction or enable whole new activities that so far have … Continue reading Future features coming to Alteryx 10.6 and beyond
The EU referendum: voting intention vs voting turnout
Next month, the UK is having a referendum on the question of whether it should remain in the European Union, or leave it. All us citizens are having the opportunity to pop down to the ballot box to register our views. And in the mean time we're subjected to a fairly horrendous mishmash of "facts" and arguments as … Continue reading The EU referendum: voting intention vs voting turnout
Unsafe abortions: visualising the “preventable pandemic”
In the past few weeks, I was appalled to read that an UK resident was given a prison sentence for the supposed "crime" of having an abortion. This happened because she lives in Northern Ireland, a country where having an abortion is in theory punishable by a life sentence in jail - unless the person in need happens … Continue reading Unsafe abortions: visualising the “preventable pandemic”
An AI beat the human world Go champion – is the end of the world nigh?
On March 15th 2016, the next event in the increasingly imminent robot takeover of the world took place. A computerised artificial intelligence known as "AlphaGo" beat a human at a board game, in a decisive 4:1 victory. This doesn't feel particularly new - after all, a computer called Deep Blue beat the world chess Champion … Continue reading An AI beat the human world Go champion – is the end of the world nigh?
You made a chart. So what?
In the latest fascinating Periscope video from Chris Love, the conversation centred around a question that can be summarised as "Do data visualisations need a 'so what'?". There are many ways of rephrasing this: one could ask whether it is (always) the responsibility of the viz author to highlight the story that their visualisations show? … Continue reading You made a chart. So what?
Beware! Killer robots swim among us
In a further sign of humanity's inevitable journey towards dystopia, live trials of an autonomous sea-based killer robot made the news recently. If all goes well, it could be released into the wild within a couple of months. Here's a picture. Notice it's cute little foldy-out arm at the bottom, which happens to contain the necessary ingredients to … Continue reading Beware! Killer robots swim among us
Dabbling with Data 