Just because a stat or “fact” is widely presented, and fits well in your story, doesn’t make it true. With all the Kony 2012 and Mike Daisey talk I keep seeing this argument for popular misinformation. You know the one that says bad data and lies are okay as long as the ends justify the […]
Mike Daisey and the justifications of a liar
This American Life retracted a very powerful and moving story about Apple in China. It appears as though Mike Daisey took a hefty amount of creative license in his story. I appreciate creative license, but if the performance is nonfiction and the lies continue off the stage, it’s just a bunch of lies. Check out […]
Unqualified for the workforce
The difference between public and PUBLIC
How many reports and data sets are made public, never to be seen or heard from again? Far fewer are made PUBLIC where they are sure to be seen.
How to annoy a qualitative researcher
Predictability and linear relationships
The problem with keeping things to yourself
How many great ideas never make it out of your head?
Failing to hit a milestone
My daughter’s pediatrician visits in her first couple of years would always start the same way. We would fill out a checklist, or answer questions from a nurse, to determine if our daughter was reaching her milestones. One time the nurse asked my wife if our daughter was playing patty-cake, which my wife said no. […]
The wrong way to visualize data
As long as you make your point, and don’t completely distort the data, does it matter that your data visualization is setup to be fun and not focused solely on reader comprehension?
In the pre-lecture dressing room
Hypothetical: If a lecture will be presented live to an audience of 100 while being recorded for an audience of thousands, for which audience do you tailor the lecture?
Head in the clouds
I don’t think there is a problem with dreaming big, as long as you stick your head out from time to time…
Swimming in data
There is a lot of data out there just waiting to be analyzed. We just need to know how to swim…