Today’s cartoon inspiration is NTEN and Google Fiber’s Digital Inclusion Fellowship. Because of the Internet, information is easier to access than ever. The web is where we go to get important questions answered, prepare homework assignments, apply to college, look for a job, or even help us care for loved ones. But with roughly 60 […]
The how to be creative guide, okay so that’s not what they call it
There is an idea out there that some people are just creative, and others are not. That there is no guide to being creative. But in reality there are a bunch of guides. And there are a lot of teachers too. Each showing or teaching that creativity is as much process as it is talent. IDEO.ORG offers […]
Silent in our design
Silence in design makes sense sometimes. So when I make a chart for a federal client’s report, it’s not me speaking. So most likely, I should not be seen in the design. In these instances you would not recognize my work. It’s just clean and minimalist with colors based on the project. But there are […]
Visual note taking and focusing on the Big Idea
If you’re interested in approaching your work in a more visual way, one place to start might be with visual note taking. You can start small by just pulling out a notebook and sketch out a few pictures at your next meeting (keep it to yourself, nobody else has to see). The hard part about […]
Evaluation’s four missing Ps according to Rakesh Mohan
Today we have a guest post from Director of Idaho’s Legislative Office of Performance Evaluations and all around great guy Rakesh Mohan. The post is his, I just added the cartoons. Do you know what happens when I tell someone that I’m an evaluator? I get a blank look, because people do not know what […]
Science is not as tidy as it looks
I’ve recently rediscovered Robert K. Merton. As a student I knew a little about his social roles work but I knew very little about the person. That is until I happened upon On the Shoulders of Giant: A Shandean Postscript which is equal parts history and parody. It didn’t take long before I knew that this […]
They don’t like to try new things? Time to double deliver
I work in a pretty conservative company. But even in a risk-averse climate there are lots of opportunities to do interesting creative work. The trick to taking risks in these types of environments is to come prepared with a fallback. I’ve mentioned David Kelley‘s notion of double delivering before in passing (the quote below comes from […]
The courage to move beyond bullet points
Last week I got to hang out with my friend and data visualization rockstar Stephanie Evergreen, who stopped by my company for a day of talks. Her ability to connect with academic audiences is just amazing. At one point during the day I remember turning to look into the crowd and I could just see lightbulbs […]
Cartooning Every Day
So I know I’ve been quiet lately. You know how it is, something comes up, you overextend and then all of a sudden you are knocked out of a habit. Then once you’re out, it can be really hard to get back in. For me there is only one way out. Cartoon my way! Daily […]
The Future of Data Visualization: Three Predictions
Prior to the holiday season Ann K Emery asked a group of us bloggers to come up with some data visualization predictions for the upcoming year. Here are 3 of my own predictions based on some of the things I already see happening (a.k.a. projections). What are your predictions? Let me know in the comments. […]
Qualitative cartoons from MQP’s latest book
Michael Quinn Patton just came out with the fourth edition of his Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods book and in it you’ll find 9 of my cartoons. The new cartoons are based largely on a series of ruminations added to each chapter (you can find a few rumination examples over at better evaluation). Today’s post […]
It’s a #dataviz Christmas cartoon post
This kind of cartoon post happens when you’re writing about data visualization in front of a Christmas tree. An Infographic to Santa Santa’s naughty list dashboard Dataviz Sweater Party