April 15, 2019
#MakeoverMonday: Info We Trust - Word by Word Analysis
UPDATE (19-Apr)
- Removed the sorting from the table on the right. When you click on a word, it now stays in its position rather than moving to the top.
- Made the titles of the bar charts on the right more succinct.
Week 16 is here and in collaboration with RJ Andrews, author of Info We Trust, we are making over a word cloud he created based on the frequency of the 270 most popular words in the book.
What works well?
- The most frequent words stand out because of their size.
- The word cloud looks interesting, meaning it captures your attention.
What could be improved?
- There are too many colors.
- The words are rotated in different directions.
- Sizing the words make it difficult to compare them and rank them.
- It's a book about data and the biggest word is data...go figure!
What I did
- We had been practicing set actions last week at The Data School, so I thought I'd replicate this dashboard by Lindsey Poulter.
- I wanted to rank the words and also rank the words within each section of the book.
- Create a mobile version based on the template Tableau builds for you automatically.
October 24, 2012
A panther on the prowl. Finding Nelson Demille.
On Tuesday, October 16th, one of my favorite novelists, Nelson Demille, published The Panther. I’ve read many of Demille’s books, including two of my favorites, Up Country and Wild Fire. I read Up Country after I was in Vietnam back in 2004 and Wild Fire just a few weeks ago. Wild Fire was particularly interesting given the current political climate in the United States and the state of hostility by some towards the Middle East.
Demille is currently on a book tour and he’s sticking to the NE part of the US, unfortunately. I created this viz on the train home last night so that you could go see him in person, buy his book (by clicking on the book cover), and send me a signed copy.
Thanks in advance!
Question: The bubbles are a simple calculated field that compares the date of the event to the current date (if today() > [Date] THEN 'Yes' else 'No' end), however when published, Tableau does not evaluate the expression and the bubble colors are not updating automatically. Has anyone seen this?
February 28, 2012
Stop Stealing Dreams (what is school for?)
"What do you think we ought to do about education?"Download it here.
My readers ask me that question more than just about any other. So here's my question back: What is school for? (Click the link to get to the free download).
I've just published a 30,000 word manifesto, totally free to read, share, translate, print and, most of all, use to start an essential conversation. It took a lot to get it to you, and I'm encouraging you to take a few minutes to check it out. After you read it, perhaps you'll write one of your own.
This is an experiment in firestarting--I'm hoping that removing friction from the sharing of this idea will help it spread.
Ultimately, our future belongs to a generation that decides to be passionate about learning and shipping, and great teachers are the foundation for that.
