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.

🚨 Datavis Job Alert! 🚨 Permanent Senior Lectureship in Data Visualization. Exciting opportunity to join us @ giCentre, London to teach & research #datavis including our £11m Centre for Doctoral Training in Visualization. Feel free to DM for informal chat. www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/about/jobs/a...

This is an important, but depressing piece. Not just because of the bleak prognosis, but because there seems little prospect of govt adopting any of the sensible measures that Sam proposes to alleviate the damage.

So @driven-by-data.net just launched SveltePlot, which merges my 2 fav things in #DataViz: Svelte and the Grammar of Graphics. 100% going to use this! Site: svelteplot.dev Gregor's slides: www.vis4.net/slides/svelt... #SvelteSummit

In data visualization design, we often assume the goal is to minimise the effort required to 'see' the data. And that adding support a title and annotation is the route to memorability. But sometimes making something more effortful achieves memorability and understanding more effectively...

The link between comics design and datavis has always struck me as important and yet often undervalued. Alex provides a good set of engaging books that deserve a place on the bookshelves of datavis and comics peeps alike.

Want to create your own custom marks in @observablehq.com Plot, but don't want to go full D3? I've created a guide with 6 approaches of varying sophistication for specifying reusable custom marks: observablehq.com/@jwolondon/h...

Yesterday we had a bite taken out of the sun. And this evening, the sun is one hour late in setting. Coincidence? I think not. #doingMyOwnResearch.

Playing with pinhole camera and today's partial #solarEclipse. It kind of works, but unexpectedly, lens ghosting works even better.

I suppose once upon a time, a local newspaper site could legitimately claim "Local newspaper says it has published the world's first unreadable news site littered with popup ads for anti aging snake oil, slimming pills and crypto investment opportunities. Not sure it's something to be proud of.

🌍 As DEI programs face setbacks, it’s crucial to rethink inclusive design. The Do No Harm Guide by @urbaninstitute.bsky.social goes beyond aesthetics, challenging us to communicate data with empathy and equity. A must-read for those working with data. 📊 🔗 www.urban.org/sites/defaul... #dataviz

Algorithmic Pattern, festival/conference about the practice and culture of algorithmic pattern-making in algorithmic music, arts, and crafts. The first edition will take place in September 2025 in Sheffield, UK, and online. The call for talks/papers is now open: 2025.algorithmicpattern.org/call/

Let's talk about this Nature piece in more detail. I've rarely read something so anti-scientific anywhere short of the National Review. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Please share this opportunity widely and please do send anyone curious (you? your students?) my way. Led by an interdisciplinary team at City St George's and Warwick Deadline: 28th March (4pm GMT), info @ diverse-cdt.ac.uk Cohort-based training PhD to become a future leader in #DataVis.

More places available for fully funded 4-year PhDs in #datavis 📊 with us at diverse-cdt.ac.uk in London / Warwick. We welcome applications from anyone with enthusiasm for #datavis. We aim to diversify approaches to datavis & the people who lead it. Change what we can see. See what we can change.