Want More Data in Your Ears? Here Are 6 Podcasts Worth Listening To

I love podcasts. They’ve lightened my commutes to and from work for years. For people interested in data, now is a great time to be subscribing to podcasts as there are a growing number of fantastic podcasts. Here are the six podcasts I recommend to you all.

Jon Schwabish is a data visualisation powerhouse who speaks and write extensively on the topic. In these podcasts, he chats with guests primarily about data visualization, open data, big data, and technology as they apply to these areas. Overall, his goal is to help you communicate your data better. One thing I really like: His episodes are all 20 minutes or shorter, and it’s mostly the guests speaking, not Jonathan.

Matt Francis and Emily Kund are respected and passionate members of the Tableau community. Their podcast is about all things related to Tableau. Expect interviews with other members of the Tableau community (e.g. Andy Kriebel, Paul Banoub, and Jonathan Drummey), Tableau employees (including Tableau CEO, Christian Chabot), and in-depth discussions about visual analytics.

How does data affect your life? Probably in more ways than you realise. This has quickly become a favourite show of mine. It interviews people from many different walks of life (for example, astronomy, publishing, web tracking). It’s been a revealing series so far. I’ve learnt much about the way data affects all our lives. As with Jon’s podcast, it’s a short show each time, and the guests are the stars.

This one is similar to What’s the Point, but is more focussed on discussing data in the news. Tim Harford is an excellent presenter with a great sense of humour. If you’re not British, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the self-deprecating humour as well as the insight into how the media uses data.

This is another show with Jon Schwabish, but this one also features Stephanie Evergreen. Both are leading bloggers in the field of data visualisation, but they also do loads of presentations. The focus of this podcast is about presentations, but they also talk about effective communication of data and ideas, too, which is vital to our work as data explorers and communicators.

My final recommendation is the longest-running podcast of the bunch. Moritz Stefaner and Enrico Bertini are on episode 58 as I am writing this. Their podcast is about data visualisation in general and has consistently drawn in some very high-calibre guests (think: Alberto Cairo, Andy Kirk, Jen Christiansen). At an hour, their episodes tend to run a little long so they really suit longer commutes!

Should there be a number 7? Maybe you could tell me what it is. What’s the data-related podcast you recommend to others? Let us know in the comments, or tweet me at @acotgreave.