This is an update on the project, as it’s been a while since I last posted on this blog. I felt I would be doing the users of this website a disservice if I didn’t explain my absence and the lack of new content.
But the reasons I’ve been away have been for (I believe) mostly good reasons, that have contributed greatly to developing my understanding of data visualisation and how to teach it to others.
The main, key reason for a lack of work being done on this website is simply due to a lack of free time. Over the past couple of years, I’ve received a couple of fantastic opportunities to work on projects that involve developing learning materials for data visualisation. I’ve also been collaborating on the development of a new tool for generating visualisations called Glimpse.
On top of all that, I’ve been dedicating a lot of time learning the Polish language, which is not an easy task!
One of the key projects I was working on in 2019 was to develop training courses for the OECD, which were introductory workshops to data visualisation. Towards the end of the year, I ended up taking part in delivering a 3-day workshop in Chiba, Japan for the UN Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP).
I’ve also been working with an American healthcare organisation since the end of 2019 to develop a number of different training materials on data visualisation. Most of this work has been around explaining different chart types and their best practices. So this has helped to deepen my knowledge of various chart types even further.
This has to lead me to look back at the site’s content and feeling that some of the content really needs updating with better wording. So I want to get around to tweaking the site at some point.
However, I also feel the need to develop a Data Visualisation Catalogue 2.0, with better content, a different content structure, and a new website interface. This would be a massive project to undertake and I still also like the idea of producing a book as well.
But I think this would all still be too early to work on. I would be more comfortable to take on such a project after I’ve had more experience teaching data visualisation, developing training materials, and read more books on the subject. Of course, this would require more time not working on this site, which is a trade-off.
For a while, I’ve wanted to work on a French version of the website, but I’m not sure how it will be a good idea yet because the site’s content needs updating first.
Anyway, I hope the website still continues to be a useful resource to those working with data visualisation and teaching it. I also hope I can get around to making the updates needed and producing new content.
