Data Curious 08.05.2017: A roundup of data stories, datasets and visualizations from last week

Welcome back to my weekly roundup of data-driven things I noticed on the web last week. This is week 4 (last week’s post is here, and special thanks to Towards Data Science for publishing the post!).

Every week I clip, save and bookmark tons of cool things I find on the web that relate to data. So here’s what caught my eye the week of May 1. In typical newsletter fashion, I’ll include a bunch of links for you to click on, save for later and then never return to again (it’s ok, we all do it). To catch next weeks post, follow me here on Medium for an update. I’m also on Twitter.

Good Reads

There was plenty of good news analysis pieces last week of the French election. But I also got around to reading some saved links on best practices for data viz and recommended tools which were quite useful.

After reading “What I Learned Recreating One Chart Using 24 Tools” by Lisa Ross, I’m starting to feel more tool-agnostic. There’s so many options to create great data viz out there, no one tool can rule them all.

Oh good, another Donald Trump Twitter analysis! But this one stood out from the rest. The Telegraph looked at how analysing Donald Trump’s tweets could tell us things about what he does outside of the Twitter universe, like what time he wakes up, when he’s watching Fox and Friends and how the President may potentially be getting less angry (or at least, wants to be seen that way).

Speaking of social media data analysis, this post from the Digital Forensic Research Lab takes a deep dive into the #MacronLeaks efforts of the alt-right over the weekend.

Should data visualisations always tell a story? Short answer: yes and no. But maybe more yes? It was an interesting intro to an ongoing debate in the data viz industry.

I really enjoyed this write-up from Nieman Lab on Pudding, the pop-culture data viz editorial arm of Polygraph. It explains the model of the site really well, with insights into how it has become profitable.

Podcast listeners might enjoy this conversation on “How open should open data be?” hosted by University of Oxford Podcasts.

Have you ever wondered why data viz designers are so obsessed with circles? Confession: I didn’t, until I read this piece from Wired describing a new book from data designer Manuel Lima (now on my ever-growing list of books to read on Goodreads).

This article describes a new art exhibit called EXIT, which uses data to show the effects of climate change. Really interesting way of using data in the arts, in the form of artistic expression rather than journalism.

Datasets and other resources

SixFiftyData is a new project launched for the upcoming UK General Elections. They have created a Github repo for everything they are working on, which includes some great data resources for polling.

The Global Investigative Journalism Network tweeted a handy data resource last week listing 520 open data portals.

I mentioned Pudding earlier in the Good Reads section, but did you know this data viz powerhouse keeps a public Google doc of all their backlogged ideas, datasets and resources. Check. It. Out.

Beer drinkers might like this aggregated dataset of US brewery production of beers & cans, kegs & barrels, and taxes.

In non-dataset related news, Tableau just announced new and updated curriculum for data journalism programs. Blog post here.

Data visualization

Goodness, there was a staggering amount of great data viz popping up on my feeds last week.

Bloomberg created a nice map showing how Brexit could create problems for Guiness exports.

Ashley Kirk published a brilliant example of using an annotated vertical timeline of Trump’s first 100 days in office.

I love this style of a highlighted bar chart from john Burn-Murdoch at the FT. It shows change over time and quantity in a clear way.

This interactive data viz on EPA cuts by Michael Mixon combines annotated Tableau charts with the reveal.js framework. Embedded Tableau charts have a reputation for being finnicky, but I think Mixon has found a winning combination here. Scrolling through the story with the arrow keys is a breeze and the interactivity of the charts is a nice addition while not getting in the way of the story.

I liked the use of hollow circles and filled in dots in this FiveThirtyEight graphic of the cost of electricity by type of power plant. It looks much cleaner than the at-times overly academic box-and-whisker plot.

I really loved this gif data viz from FiveThirtyEight showing how Republicans and Democrats think different groups are discriminated against. Most telling: Many Republicans think Christians are discriminated against, Democrats overwhelmingly do not.

This data vis gif from the FT shows a brilliant way to take the user through a chart’s story step-by-step. By changing the annotations throughout the gif, a standard line chart show smore than just quantity over time. It becomes a detailed timeline without taking up the amount of space required for a traditional timeline.

Maarten Lambrechts created a data vis for Google News Lab on this year’s upcoming Eurovision contest. You can check out his “Making of: The Eurosearch Song Contest” blog post here.

This map from NYT Graphics makes great use of color for shipping routes. I also love the rounded view of the map to create a globe-like effect.

There were almost too many French Election visualizations to choose from, but here were a few that caught my eye.

This analysis from Wall Street Journal shows how Le Pen had much more support in areas of high unemployment. The maps and charts throughout the article are really sharp and easy to understand.

The creative output of the FT Data team continues to impress me. This overnight analysis of the French election is packed with sleek data viz. My favourite: the scatter plot showing the correlation between life-expectancy and Macron’s share of the vote.

I didn’t realize how remarkably swift Macron’s rise to power truly was until seeing this animated timeline from Hannah Murphy at the FT. Turning it into a gif for social sharing makes this data viz super readable and packed with info.

That’s it from last week. Did you see something I missed? Or maybe you just want to give me a digital head-nod? Tweet me or leave a comment below. More data stuff coming in hot next week.