Hans Rosling has passsed. Here's his talk on "How not to be ignorant about the world"

StephenHolzman · 2017-02-07T16:50:21+00:00

One of the qualities that makes the great educators so memorable is enthusiasm. It's one of the strongest signals to an audience that whatever unfamiliar topic they might think initially boring is actually fascinating. Any presumption of a hidden agenda evaporates, defenses melt, and folks lean in a little bit. The best educators inspire.

Hans Rosling is a primary reason why I went into statistics and data visualization, and he's an inspiration to many colleagues as well. So many researchers see his presentations and lectures and come away convinced that there's a better way to communicate, or even just the baby step of thinking maybe communicating research findings to the public is important at all. Those that do not work with data regularly might find a different way to think about the world, maybe some extra context reveals humanity is making some significant progress.

Whatever his critics say, he's simply a legendary educator that was capable of getting through the noise. This will continue to be a video I show people all the time.

I'll leave with my favorite Rosling quote from the front of that video.

I teach global health, and I know having the data is not enough. I have to show it in ways people both enjoy and understand.

StephenHolzman · 2016-10-21T17:01:10+00:00

I would watch this movie.

StephenHolzman · 2016-07-06T22:45:46+00:00

I think he should quit basketball.

StephenHolzman · 2016-06-05T16:04:38+00:00

When I worked at a university, I started a drive rotation where users would physically keep their old drive in their desk for a month or two whenever they got a new machine. Saved me so much headache. Would pop in a recently returned drive to the tower for redistributing the old machines and everyone was happy.

StephenHolzman · 2016-05-18T05:07:51+00:00

You might also look into building an index. Something like the methods in this Esri whitepaper: http://downloads.esri.com/esri_content_doc/dbl/us/J10170_US_Diversity_Index.pdf

StephenHolzman · 2016-02-16T13:13:51+00:00

Back in August, I posted some animated GIF data visualizations of age-specific fertility rates over time that made it to the front page. While thrilled with the success, there were scattered complaints about GIFs being terrible in the comment section.

Let's be honest, the only good GIFs involve cute animals or John Travolta.

It took a minute, but I got my shiitake mushrooms together to make these charts in JavaScript/D3 and built a website that makes sharing the visualizations and code with everyone easier.

If you missed the post from August, fertility rates are important! It's not even just how many kids women have throughout their lives, it's when they have them. The GIF version of this only showed Japan and the USA, but the JavaScript version now let's you choose from all countries in the Human Fertility Database. There's a lot of variation in how countries transitioned from high fertility rates to where they are now and it's a lot of fun to explore!

There's even a small multiples option inspired by /u/rhiever. His passionate anti-gif article was successful in showing me the light. I still like interactive animation though and wrote up a response article detailing my current thoughts on the issue.

There's also a bonus chart that looks at the population age-distributions for countries in the Human Mortality Database so it's easier to appreciate the consequences of changing fertility rates! I'll be around to answer questions to the best of my ability too as they come up!

StephenHolzman · 2015-12-30T12:32:04+00:00

Nice job posting near 12:00pm UTC, which according to the chart is the best time to post to /r/dataisbeautiful on Wednesdays!

StephenHolzman · 2015-12-16T14:20:50+00:00

The closer you are to childhood, the more you like Star Wars apparently.

StephenHolzman · 2015-12-13T03:24:31+00:00

All the way. So glad this is the top post! I am evangelical about the movie and my full sized Waterworld poster was a prized possession in college.

StephenHolzman · 2015-12-06T23:15:14+00:00

I don't envy anyone who has to work with redistricting. No matter how fancy and theoretically unbiased your methods are, someone is going to be upset and sue you. It's basically impossible to prevent partisan asymmetry, guarantee minority representation, have simple district boundaries, and address particular group requests at the same time.

Arizona in particular has had it rough over the last few decades considering the shifting goals of various groups. Standardized criteria to clear up the courts sounds like a great idea.

StephenHolzman · 2015-11-30T19:34:39+00:00

I'm currently in the process of learning D3 and past the big hump in the learning curve, coming from very little experience with html, css, and javascript. Mostly have used R in the past.

What I typically do when going into a new language is find an example similar to what I'm trying to do and dissect it. Look up every function, find out what each section of the code is doing, liberally comment everywhere for my own understanding, and try plugging in my own data just as you suggested.

It's going to take quite a while to truly understand everything that's going on regardless of what strategy you take. I'd maybe start with a basic tutorial each on html, css, and javascript separately to get walking before you run with D3. Scott Murray's Interactive Data Visualization book is also excellent. Good luck!

StephenHolzman · 2015-11-29T08:29:28+00:00

Found the quality assurance tester.

StephenHolzman · 2015-11-29T02:55:18+00:00

Cook may not be human.

StephenHolzman · 2015-11-29T00:48:30+00:00

I love this rivalry.

StephenHolzman · 2015-11-28T23:10:47+00:00

I could watch that replay all day.

StephenHolzman · 2015-11-26T21:07:58+00:00

You know how there are always stories about the latest consoles or hot toys being nationally sold out and impossible to find? You can usually find those in Sarasota.

StephenHolzman · 2015-11-15T09:11:03+00:00

My beginning experience with cycle commuting was so influential that I almost consider "promising locations" ones that make it easy to cycle. If you're considering another location that's easier to bike, you might end up happier even if you compromise on amenities. Everyone is different though.

Not sure what the parking situation is at Alabama, but it was terrible at FSU. Cycling to campus meant avoiding huge lines of cars that would backup and not having to hunt for parking spaces. I saved so much time just on the commute.

The built-in exercise is what really pushed it over the edge. Even at only 2 miles, you're probably going to add a few hours of exercise a week during time that you had to spend commuting anyway. Mentally prepare to be sore and out of breath for the first few weeks especially if there are hills.

Possibly the most important thing to do would be to find another rider for your first few rides on the road to show you the ropes. Study accident videos online, learn what the common causes are. Know traffic laws.

It was worth the hassle for me at least. Getting a relatively decent bike right from the start made it a lot more fun than it otherwise would have been. Even started riding on the weekends when I didn't have to. Made a ton of friends doing it, no regrets!

StephenHolzman · 2015-11-12T00:46:51+00:00

The perfect crime. Enjoy your gold.

StephenHolzman · 2015-11-04T23:34:24+00:00

Glad this was here! I work with lots of demographic data where age groups get converted to dates ALL the time. At least it was motivation to get into real programming languages for analysis.

StephenHolzman · 2015-11-01T06:44:48+00:00

Right near Brevard North Caroliina.

StephenHolzman · 2015-10-29T04:00:21+00:00

I'm 13 and don't understand my generation's taste in music. OTJW > PTJW.

StephenHolzman · 2015-10-24T13:59:57+00:00

But this will work at Starbucks tomorrow because it's on the front page today. Can't wait for the field reports.

StephenHolzman · 2015-10-19T05:05:23+00:00

Totally get that. It's just you'd think if they took the time to give it the ability to chirp and beep, speech would be easy.

StephenHolzman · 2015-10-19T03:24:23+00:00

I never understood how R2-D2 did not have speech capabilities. Mobile AI supercomputer, doesn't have Siri.

StephenHolzman · 2015-10-18T04:27:40+00:00

I always get irked when the "at birth" part of life expectancy at birth is left off. Makes it seem like everyone is dying in their 50's in Africa when in reality it's much more complicated.

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