443: quantum of sollazzo
#443: quantum of sollazzo – 12 October 2021
The data newsletter by @puntofisso.
Hello, regular readers and welcome new ones :) This is Quantum of Sollazzo, the newsletter about all things data. I am Giuseppe Sollazzo, or @puntofisso. I’ve been sending this newsletter since 2012 to be a summary of all the articles with or about data that captured my attention over the previous week. The newsletter is and will always (well, for as long as I can keep going!) be free, but you’re welcome to become a friend via the links below.
This past week the Big Facebook Downtime happened. So much has been written about BGP and other nerdities that really brought me back to my university studies (by pure chance, I was studying BGP while my hall of residence took fire – a story for another time). But Chris Weston made me realise that the the visualization of the event is a good match for Yakety Sax
The Ada Lovelace Institute is running an interesting series of events on responsible innovation, data protection, and AI, with high-calibre speakers. All details can be found here.
Every week I include a six-question interview with an inspiring data person. This week, I speak with Edurne Morillo of Datawrapper.
There will be no newslette next week, as I’m switching off from the world and visiting Iceland. Speak soon,
Giuseppe @puntofisso
Six questions to...
Edurne Morillo
Edurne is a support engineer and content writer at Datawrapper.
What is your daily data work like and what tools do you use?
I spent most of my day helping others to make data visualizations, so I’m used to seeing a wide variety of tools, workflows, and data sources. Some people send their data as an Excel file, while others use a Python script. I find it very enriching to learn about different approaches to data analysis and visualization and to try and incorporate those into my workflow. For personal projects, I usually go for Jupyter Notebooks, and Google Spreadsheets to analyze my data and then visualize it using Datawrapper (I guess this is not a surprise to anyone!).
Tell me about a data project that you're proud of...
Each week, a member of the Datawrapper team writes an article for our Blog featuring Datawrapper visualizations. We call these ‘Weekly Charts’. I’ve enjoyed working on each of the ones I’ve written so far, but if I have to mention just one, I think that must be this one: How Barcelona is claiming its streets back from cars. I’m pretty new to mapping, so it’s always nice to have a chance to make some!
...and a data project that someone else did and you're jealous of.
I feel I’m still relatively new to the field, so I naturally look up to many people and data teams. Since the latest Outlier conference, I’m obsessed with Kontinentalist. I find their style very refreshing, and I like how they translate cultural experiences into data stories. To give you an example, here’s an article from Mick Yang about the importance of chili in Asia.
If I say "dataset", you think of...
An interview! My background is in journalism, so I treat datasets as I would treat interviewees; I make questions until I get the full picture of something.
Give someone new to data a tip or lesson you wish you'd learned earlier.
Less is, usually, more. When I started making data visualizations, I thought it was better to use complicated chart types, including animations and many interactive features, but now I try to think about what my story calls for. I recommend this article by my colleague Lisa called In defense of simple charts.
Data is or data are...
I believe the right thing would be ‘data are’, but to be completely honest, I always find myself using ‘data is’ instead, and ‘data are’ just sounds wrong to me.
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Topical
A hotter and drier climate is set to hurt agriculture in the West and help farmers in Asia
Climate change is starting to affect staple foods. The regions where corn and soy grow best are starting to shift.
Contracting Emissions (alpha)
“At Spend Network we’ve been looking at how Government can reduce CO2 emissions through procurement. So we set out to generate a CO2 value for every contract in the UK.“
A work in progress but bravo Ian Makgill and team.
Republicans Have a Redistricting Problem as Suburbs Shift Toward Democrats
“Republicans have a dilemma as states start redrawing their political maps: Draw as many Republican districts as they can now—even if it makes them vulnerable to demographic changes in the future—or draw safer, more future-proof districts for Republican incumbents, even if it means ceding a few more seats to Democrats now.“
Well, that’s a problem for gerrymandering professionals, isn’it…
What Redistricting Looks Like In Every State
“An updating tracker of proposed congressional maps — and whether they might benefit Democrats or Republicans in the 2022 midterms and beyond.“
Après le Brexit, combien de Britanniques ont-ils choisi la France et l’Europe ?
How many British people are getting naturalised in France and the rest of Europe after Brexit? A whole lot, apparently.
(via Soph’s Fair Warning)
Tools & Tutorials
Analyzing Time Series Data
One of those brilliant, editable Observable notebooks.
Re-use other organisations’ work
“Assets and other useful resources created by charities, groups and agencies working in the open.“
By the good folks at The Catalyst.
Cloud Index
“Cloud Index is a growing online archive that collects and presents cloud imagery of fossil fuel combustion sites.“
AtroposJS
“AtroposJS is a lightweight, free and open-source JavaScript library to create stunning touch-friendly 3D parallax hover effects.”.
Useful for scrollytellers, it’s completely free and under the MIT License.
A set of minimal browser-based instruments
Exactly what it says on the tin. Data sonification folks, give this a try.
SQLime
“SQLime is an online SQLite playground for debugging and sharing SQL snippets. Kinda like JSFiddle, but for SQL instead of JavaScript.“
You can connect your own databases and save the queries as a private gist on GitHub, which is useful to share SQL scripts.
Hash.ai
“Build multi-agent simulations in minutes” with Hash.ai, “an open-core platform for creating and exploring digital-twins of our complex real world. This allows for safe, low-cost learning and experimentation in realistic virtual environments.”
Below, a simulation of warehouse logistics.
Data thinking
Using Local Knowledge to Better Map Food Deserts
“Mapping and understanding food deserts is important if we are to understand how best to tackle the lack of healthy food options in the United States. However, this is more than simply putting dots on a map of where food stores and consumers are. Integrating spatial data with subject-derived knowledge might be the key.“
Data Visualization Has a Taxonomy Problem
Taxonomies can be dangerous, fundamentally.
“While useful as an initial step for organization, taxonomies involuntarily work against the production of meaning by arbitrarily constraining their users.“
Why “R” is the best coding language for data journalism
Well, they’re not really subtle at The Economist, aren’t they? This provocative column is by data journo James Fransham.
Dataviz & Interactive
Charts…
Well spotted, Alex.
Herbal Archive
Well, isn’t this searchable collection of herbal photos just irresistibly beautiful?
AI
The AI Maturity Survey
A short survey by Dataiku, offering some insight on AI and its perception. They also have an interactive assessment tool to measure your organisation’s AI maturity (displayed below).
Deep Learning’s Diminishing Returns
“The cost of improvement is becoming unsustainable“.
Reaching MLE (machine learning enlightenment)
“I have some (potentially bad) news for you, you’re doing machine learning engineering.”
“But I haven’t even touched a model yet.”
A brilliant story.
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