disturb media blog

The talks were brief, but very informative. I was amazed to see the speakers fit content so neatly in a very limited amount of time.

I was impressed by Stefanie Posavec's passion for gathering data and meticulous work. Strangely enough I've managed to see some of her works for the first time at the Pick Me Up exhibition in Somerset House. Coincidentally this event allowed me to learn more about her work.

Alastair Dant showcased very interesting interactive Flash projects build with his team at The Guardian. From World Cup football and balls to custom budget cuts, carbon footprint calculators, afghan war logs and election swingometers, Alaistair quickly covered different techniques in relation to the data portrayed in a very informative talk.

Brock Craft's discussion revolved around his project using the TFL's Cycle scheme API to plot the availability of bikes which part of these scheme through out London. A lot of helpful tips and insights, including details regarding regulations for requesting sensitive data.

The organizers saved the best for last, as Noah Iliinsky delivered a funny, yet very helpful guide on the DOs and DON'Ts in data visualisation. Speaking of DON'Ts, there was an interesting example of a 3D pie chart (from an Apple keynote) which was tilted at a convenient angle so a smaller percentage visually was perceived as larger. Noah was kind enough to a 50% discount code for the book he co-authored: Beautiful Visualization. The code is valid at the time of this post, but I am not sure for how long. The code is: AUTHD

Unfortunately I am not able to go into great detail about each of the talks, but do check out the event website for more details on the speakers and also keep an eye out. Some sessions were filmed so I would expect them to go online at some point in the future.