Range plots ≠ dot plots

5 minute read , Posted on July 14, 2018, by Carl V. Lewis

Range plots always have seemed a bit elitist to me. It’s one of those types of charts that people who want to show how skilled they are at visualization use.

My week at OpenVisConf 2017 in tweets – or, how I learned to stop hating and be okay with Tableau

13 minute read , Posted on April 26, 2017, by Carl V. Lewis

I never thought I’d be so basic as to use Tableau Public, but it’s important to keep in mind the end goal of data visualization is insight, not technology or tools.

Surveying the intersectional identity of the data journalism and civic-tech ecosystems

6 minute read , Posted on April 26, 2017, by Carl V. Lewis

An explication of the interdisciplinary overlaps and differences between recent technology-driven social change movmements

Using CartoDB to visualize the relationship between private prisons and incarceration rates

7 minute read , Posted on April 17, 2017, by Carl V. Lewis

The last post I wrote about CartoDB used the CartoDB API and Leaflet.js to produce a hover tooltip map of census data. Looking back, while it’s quite useful to learn CartoDB’s API, it’s now possible to achieve those same visual cues and interactivity without spending time wading through complex, undocumented JavaScript.

Defending interactive visualization and data journalism against the cult of the static and the simplistic

2 minute read , Posted on April 17, 2017, by Carl V. Lewis

Tufte’s illustration of what he famously dubbed ‘The Flatland’ –– the two-dimensional, static and shallow state of information graphics –– in his 1980 work Envisioning Information

Developing an open standard for municipal procurement data

1 minute read , Posted on April 17, 2017, by Carl V. Lewis

When we talk about redundancy and inefficiency in municipal governments, we almost always come back to the complex topic of procurement. That’s why we need open standards for procurment policies more than ever.

Webinar-Data Viz 101 Transforming Raw Data Into Interactive Stories With Little To No Coding Knowledge

1 minute read , Posted on April 20, 2016, by Carl V. Lewis

Just a quick note that I’ll be teaching a webinar sponsored by PBS MediaShift on data visualization basics at 1 p.m. today. Join in if you’re interested.

Using plot.ly to analyze and visualize data dynamically

6 minute read , Posted on July 04, 2014, by Carl V. Lewis

Making the case for the “post-platform” journalist

4 minute read , Posted on June 15, 2014, by Carl V. Lewis

My recent family loss, and introducing Borrow.ly, my next adventure

4 minute read , Posted on May 30, 2014, by Carl V. Lewis

In the long-overdue 7 months since I last posted here, I’ve gone through one of the most difficult situations of my life – one which I’m not seeking your sympathy for, and also not embarrassed to admit the depression the loss brought on.  I’ll leave all that stuff to Tumblr for you to read should you wish