Blogs I Follow

I ‘viz’, and like what we call ‘vizes’ here at Tableau, because I believe in their ability to transcend barriers (fear of stats, fear of nerdiness, or plain and simple fear of graphs) to help us ask more meaningful questions of our surroundings. A well conceptualized viz is accessible to many – and shouldn’t require any specific expertise.

Today, I want to share a few of my favorite data bloggers with you. These are blogs I go to gain inspiration or force me to remember the importance of getting the basics right.

1. Flowing Data (Nathan Yau)
Yau is a doctoral student who in his own words, “lives and breathes data”. I like to follow his blog because of the sheer variety of vizes he collects and archives. Everything from music meets vizing - Bach Cello Suites Visualized, to interactive global debt politics in Who owes what to whom in Europe. He has a massive archive – browse through a few months to get an idea of what’s possible. Tip: 7 Basic Rules for Making Charts and Graphs.

2. Storytelling with Data (Cole Nussbaumer)
Nussbaumer works in the Silicon Valley, and teaches “Communicating Effectively with Data” on the side. Her pieces read as timeless classics, and will force you back to the important basics, step-by-step, such as this How to do it in Excel post. It doesn’t really matter if it’s using Excel as an example – she forces us to think about the ink-data ratio and the beauty of simplicity. I like her pointer to the Economist in Visualizing Student Loan Debt, reminding us that like writing, there’s always room for improvement.

Let us know if you have some tips or a favorite blog to share with us.