From the category archives:

Data Intensive

The US Budget Deficit in Plain English

13 December 2011

How can you explain the US budget deficit in layman’s terms? Try a paper bag and an old style font, that displays some fairly simple math.

Does this help you to understand the entire budget process and problem better? Do you think it is too simplistic?
[Via Samantha Adams.]

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The Value of Data Visualization

18 October 2011
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Have you ever wondered why data visualization matters? Do you prefer to look simply at numbers in a spreadsheet, or would you rather seen an image of that data?
Many people learn better visually. We all have to crawl through a great deal of data each and every day as well as process the meaning of [...]

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Back from Hiatus…

18 October 2011
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I’ve missed posting in this blog. I still must do my dissertation work, but I will plan to post a few times a month. I did make progress on my dissertation work the past few months.
I hope you all had a wonderful summer and that fall is going well. (Or, that you had a wonderful [...]

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User Experience Design

5 May 2011
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Have you ever visited a web site and wondered who created such a great experience? Have you ever wondered who makes the invisible visible?
No? Why do you think that is? If it works well, you don’t notice it, and if the site is a mess, it is all you do notice.
Therefore, what element can help [...]

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Social Paranoia and Graduate School

3 May 2011

Are you paranoid about your social standing and what others’ think of you? Instead of Taming Data, are you Taming Fear?
Then you must be a graduate student, according to Don Troop’s recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, “Paranoid? You Must Be a Grad Student“.

Source: PhD Comics via The Chronicle.
Have I had my moments? [...]

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Language is Data, Too — Don’t Mind It Too Much

25 April 2011

RogersCreations has created this delightful animation of Stephen Fry’s essay, “Don’t Mind Your Language“, called “Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography“. Fry decries pedants in this essay.

I enjoyed this video. As an academic, I both wish my grammar were better, yet at the same time know that language is a fluid and living beast. Ah! the [...]

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The Science Network – A Social Network Parody

18 April 2011

You don’t get to 11 million papers without a few dodgy results.

So, what do you think? Did he or didn’t he invent PubMed?
[Via Jane G.]

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Save the Data

13 April 2011

Welcome to my own version of NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard-ism).
Yes, I know the US federal budget needs to be cut, but not my programs.
Seriously. :)
The Sunlight Foundation writes:

Some of the most important technology programs that keep Washington accountable are in danger of being eliminated. Data.gov, USASpending.gov, the IT Dashboard and [...]

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Being a Google Autocompleter

4 April 2011

Can you type 34,000 words a minute? Are you psychic?
If so, you may wish to apply for a job with Google as an Autocompleter. The video below details some of the requirements of the position.

Yes, this is another one of Google’s jokes for April Fools’ Day 2011.
Happy Monday!
[Via TechCrunch.]

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Data Access and Reuse Entropy

28 March 2011

What if you have access to all kinds of personal data, yet you just can’t bring yourself to Be Evil with it?

Happy Monday!
I hope you have a great week.

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