Fun fact: by my analysis*, 264 councillors were elected on Thursday on account of their alphabetical name advantage. Therefore 264 candidates denied a position because of their name disadvantage. *calculated by comparing vote totals with average vote given to their party in multi-seat ballots.

I didn't want to pollute this wonderful thread from Moose, so have kept this one separate, but it seems apposite today. Amazing how Prime Minister technology has developed. Our current Prime Ministerial average term of office (left) and an original 1980's term of office, the size of a brick!

Now all election results for London are in, here is a 📊 BallotMap showing significant name-ordering bias in voting. See annotations / alt-text for details. The map shows us where people choose to split their vote between parties choosing from top of ballot paper, and where party loyalty dominates.

If your name wasn't near the front of alphabet you had less chance of being elected yesterday. 📊 For wards with 3 candidates standing per party, we can compare alphabetical name ordering with vote ordering by party If no name bias we'd expect all squares to have the same number of candidates. But…

Inspired by this video youtu.be/etwt75kYYhk I thought I'd explore some of the statistics around car access and deprivation with some #datavis and analysis. Usefully, the 2021 Census in the UK asked questions around car ownership as well as many aspects of 'deprivation'. So here is 📊 🧵... [1/8]

We didn't deserve this day.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Grant Sanderson (@3blue1brown.com) is one of the most skilled visual communicators. His explanations are pedagogic masterpieces and a joy to experience. He's outdone himself with his latest on M.C. Escher's Prentententoonstelling. youtu.be/ldxFjLJ3rVY

Some insightful commentary on the effects tech labeled as AI is having in higher education. "The problem isn’t that instructors don’t want to evaluate—it’s that the familiar signals no longer mean what they used to."

I am pro Iranian people. I stand with them against their own government’s repression AND against the imperial violence in the form of bombs dropped from the sky from Israel & the US who have already killed hundreds. I support neither imperialism or dictatorship. Sahar Delijani said it best:

This was a great conversation (Andy has such an encouraging and engaging presence) with interesting examples from Nicola and Ansgar. Well worth a listen. I did the #30daymapchallenge twice and it almost broke me, but resulted in a wealth of learning experiences and body of work I still draw upon.

Shadowed somewhat by the more egregious fabrication of "Tactical Choice" by Labour in the Gorton and Denton by-election was this chart crime. Although credit to them, they did at least provide some handy grid squares for checking that non-zero axis problem.

Mostly harmless. Great #datavis work from @theo.io bluesky-map.theo.io?live=1

#duboischallenge2026 Week 2. Original and @observablehq.com Plot recreation Hachures and watercolor effects via SVG styling of Plot marks: observablehq.com/@jwolondon/h... (subtle) hand-drawn edge style via sketchy plot: observablehq.com/@jwolondon/m... Typography: www.vocaltype.co/buy-du-bois

I do think one of the most significant developments in computing in the last decade (apart from ~that~ one) has been the computational notebook. Browsing through my @observablehq.com notebooks, they capture my visual and computational thinking more effectively than anything that preceded them.

New year, new set of Du Bois reproduction challenges. Quite mappy this year, so plenty of opportunity for some faithful reproductions. I’ve found precise vis reproductions a valuable way of improving design skills. Think of it as “close reading” for design.

I use @electionstudies.bsky.social data from 1972 to model how characters in The Simpsons would have voted in presidential elections It turns out to be very revealing about how the demographic coalitions of the Democratic and Republican parties have completely rearranged themselves...

Reviewer Two to a Kill.

Becoming an annual tradition, but if you've not read this before, delight in the story. If you have, a chance to delight in it again.

Interested in a fully-funded #datavis PhD with training? Applications for our 2nd cohort of PhD students at Diverse-CDT open! We're keen to diversify the sector, encouraging anyone with enthusiasm for using 📊 to make change, even if you've not considered PhD study before: diverse-cdt.ac.uk

One of my favourite #30daymapchallenge entries.

I was having related thoughts about Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Stoppard, but Joel explores the idea more clearly than I ever could. It brought to mind the (few) effective TV adaptations of video games, giving life and death to NPCs. Yes, I am thinking of The Last of Us, Ep. 3.

Thank you for sharing the key messages from the @daraprojectcity.bsky.social team scoping review @edldproject.bsky.social Almost no research has explored whether data visualisations are accessible for people living with language disability. The Dara study is looking to change that!

"Not TV or illegal drugs but the automobile has been the chief destroyer of...communities." ― Jane Jacobs

#IEEEVIS - we’re hiring @ City St George’s, University of London. Does this sound like you? bit.ly/3WEYlmm It's a permanent (tenured) position: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPC906/l... Join us @ giCentre & be part of our amazing new ... Data Visualization Doctoral Training Centre: bit.ly/diverseCDT25...

While I have questions about some of the #datavis design choices here, this is a nice example of evidence-based investigative journalism on an important topic. Good use of engaging visual support to create a rich documentary-like impression. news.sky.com/story/the-x-...

Such a disappointing start to #ieeevis 2025 for us remote attendees. No live streaming so best we get is a vicarious experience of a discord channel discussing details we cannot see. This is a major step backward in an era where travel options are constrained both environmentally and politically.

We are raising awareness of #aphasia by: 1. Talking about our research. The Dara project looks at everyday information - like maps, pie charts, and physical data to see how easy-to-use people with #aphasia or #DLD find it. #DevLangDis @sayaphasia.bsky.social @thestrokeassoc.bsky.social

Do you want a bit more sketchiness in your #datavis? Here's my @observablehq.com Plot plugin that turns an Plot specification into a sketchy version with minimal extra work: observablehq.com/@jwolondon/m... Builds on the work of Gordon Tu and rough.js

Salesforce owns Tableau. Time to drop all mentions from classes and trainings #dataViz

Friday is Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) awareness day. Why not join in? Here's how: - You will find lots of information about DLD via the hashtag #DLDday. - Watch our account for updates from the Dara project. - Follow @radld.bsky.social and @wordaware.bsky.social - Visit radld.org

Interested in accessibility and data vis? Just 2 days left to apply for this one year researcher role on the Dara project www.dara.org.uk

Balm for the soul.

A great post from @djnavarro.net, providing an accessible explanation of why statistics that can appear to reveal our ignorance may actually do the opposite. Makes excellent use of #datavis to provide visual support for the argument. blog.djnavarro.net/posts/2025-0...

And another thing...

🚨#datavis Job alert 🚨 Fancy working with us in London as a researcher using @observablehq.com Plot for accessible #datavis? To support people with language disability in the use of data visualization for everyday decision making. www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/about/jobs/a...

Today's Hard #pips puzzle had 86 possible solutions (and 353,009,663,914 incorrect ones)

Filed under 'I wish I'd thought of that'. Elegant example of a 2d layout for 4-way comparison from @firthstat.bsky.social

I think this is the real problem for Computer Science education. It's not students 'cheating' with AI, it's the need to focus CS education on those aspects only people can deal with. And that's not the stuff we've been largely teaching in CS for the last 50 years.

* Where shall we go for a walking holiday this year? - How about the Alps? * No, way too scary. I don't have a head for heights. - OK, what about the gentle grassy domes of the Auvergne? * Sounds great. Day two of our walking holiday...

Currently in Lyon for some #eurogames and in preparation for some Auvergne walking next week. And Lyon is certainly good preparation, being a city of many many steps. Here's just the first set from the 400+ up to our apartment.

Fast interactive spatial querying with @observablehq.com Plot and a k-d tree. #datavis observablehq.com/@jwolondon/e...

On a train heading south from the Lake District. There's something special about landscape of drumlin fields between Oxenholme and Lancaster. (Don't worry, I am not going to live-post everything I see out of the window like an excited five year old.)

The @datavizsociety.bsky.social Is going through a rough patch. They have a USD 35k deficit, down from 115k after compressing and reorganizing. Their Executive Director has resigned to make space for someone skilled in financial recovery. There are 30k members. We can do this. 1/🧵

Putting aside questions of whether educational providers should be 'judged' at all, I think this is an interesting aspiration to consider. In HE we seem to be fixated on module-level outcomes, short-term progression rates and graduate destinations. Why not teach to support a lifetime of fulfilment?

I think I got lost somewhere in the self-referential irony of Jarvis at #Glastonbury talking about living in the now after reminiscing about a song about reminiscing about looking forward to a time 25 years ago.

Do you have an interest in the bridge between academic #datavis and industry/professional practice of visualization? 🚨We are recruiting for a Business Development Manager in London for our £10m centre for doctoral training in datavis. 🚨 Details here: www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/about/jobs/a...

Onomatopoeic programming you say? Here's a Rivulet program that generates a Collatz sequence from any given start integer. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collatz...

Excited to receive this today. Chart by @nadiehbremer.com . I was lucky enough to get early access to a digital copy to provide feedback, but the paper copy is more lovely to hold & smell. Bridges an important gap between design exposition (e.g Data Sketches by Bremer and Wu) and a design handbook.

@dtemkin.bsky.social 's Rivulet esolang prompts ideas around code and #datavis comprehension. How do we make sense of visualizations when we are unfamiliar with the 'grammar' of their design? An introduction Rivulet: observablehq.com/@jwolondon/r... An editor: observablehq.com/@jwolondon/r...

It's the time of year when this season's fox cubs try being more independent of their family unit. We have three surviving cubs in the den next to our garden. This one likes to snooze on the warm patio at the end of a sunny day just outside our garden door.