Data Visualisation Catalogue

Data Viz Catalogue

Here's an interesting blog that categorises all the various types of data visualisations by their type and purpose. There's nothing worse than seeing visualisations that don't convey the right message about their data or confuse the user. I think this catalogue will be very useful for anyone looking to tell a story or get a point across. The more that data visualisations get used in business and social environments, it's important to understand what's going on underneath rather than just on the surface.

Speaking of proper visuals, this reminds me of the work by Jon Schwabisch over at Policy Viz. His blog focuses on data visualisation in the government space but he did launch a Remakes page some time ago. Basically people send in visuals they see in the news or media that have some flaw in them and Jon goes about remaking them to better get the messages across. Try it here.

Very interesting concepts and certainly things that I'll use in my every day work and you should too.

IBM Watson - the future is here

Hi folks, I've recently had some time away from data mining work (analysing statistical datasets and figuring out what's going on in terms of production and capacity in various economies overseas) and had a chance to investigate more cutting edge technology from around the web.

Not sure if people remember Watson, the $3m IBM machine that was built to 'think' like a human - cognitive reasoning and unrivalled processing capacity all trapped inside a box...

It's also the brains behind the Big Blue IBM machine that beat Kasparov at chess. If you don't know Kasparov, I'd suggest you google him.

In any case, this level of computing was something at the time, far out of the reach of many organisations large and small. However a tide is shifting and with further developments in cloud computing and more and more information available online, the time was right for Watson to get amongst it. 

What's on offer is a distributive type of service where IBM is looking for apps/projects to get involved in and as much as I may have been against the might of software giants fighting against the little guys, I'm not against it when they do so in such as  a way as to move away from traditional norms of expensive software, long build cycles and limited access.

IBM has already started recruiting companies to take part in their 

Built in the background of all this are certain API components that give rise to the level of smarts you see above.

Some such as Trade-Off Analytics give users quick ability to analyse static datasets 

http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/ibmwatson/developercloud/services-catalog.html

Or how about this demo which makes conversational computing a reality like in this healthcare example - https://watsonhealthqa.mybluemix.net/

Traditionally, any kind of querying of data has involved either visually looking at data as a table or as a chart or digging into it manually.  Improvements have been made over time to codify and further automate the process however the process for users has always been about knowing how to use certain systems. These systems have been getting easier and easier to use but what better way to do this than what Watson is doing.

In the above example, I can search as if I am asking a question....  eg 'what are the causes of the common cold?', or 'how do I know if I have food poisoning?'

Watson reviews what you've typed based on speech software and then looks into it's vast database to find answers and not only that, it also gives a level of confidence to those answers as well.

It's been a while since I'd heard of Watson but I'm glad they're making a comeback and doing so in a manner that is more reachable than anything IBM-like I thought would ever be.

Stay tuned for more updates as I investigate this further, could useful in what I or many others involved in the analytics space do going forward.

Big Data time

Been a while since my last post I know however I'm going to slowly get back into this. My recent venture back into the world of finance has given me much time to experience the highs and lows of what data can do to help improve the way we live, work and even play. There's a great video from TED recently about big data and the way it can help everyday citizens come up with solutions to what would otherwise have been very much ignored problems. Data and making it easy to access, use and understand leads to better story telling capabilities and whether it be for civic duties or for monetary purposes there is much that can be done to find these advantages. Anyway, check out this video from Ben Wellington - and maybe even check out your local open data website or statistic agency. There's information out there that can help you - you've just got to do a bit of digging.

New Job

So I've moved into a new role and will be leading up the Business Intelligence practice for an Equities Research firm here in Melbourne.

It's pretty exciting as I get to once again use my finance skills (more like brush the dust off of...) and get involved in the wonderful world of investments

For those of you who aren't sure, Equities Researchers have started forming up over the last couple of years since the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) as the rates of pay typically given in basis points has been in decline. It's only really those who offer great insights and ideas to fund managers who will be able to make any money in this current climate.

As for the company, QMG, we've got some pretty good insights into sector level analysis and we couple our information with data mashups which is what I've seen happening in other industries to get unique insights. Our insights will prove valuable to those not just in the investments sector but anyone really looking to make either strategic or market based moves.

Right now we are focusing on overseas markets as the ASX is not really the largest of all the global players (though we might add them on eventually however we do have some Technical Analysis provided on the local stocks).

In the meantime if anyone is interested in having a look at our products check us out here.

I'll be focused on creating an interactive and easy to use experience for anyone interested in the research we do.

It's going to be fun being on the buyer side for once!

Graduate unemployment and salary information

Saw a great article in the Australian Financial Review today all about the decline of graduate employment in Australia (original article here). Edmund Tadros has pulled together some great data on the salaries of students and percentage of those still seeking jobs after finishing university.

The presentation of data in news is something that is always intriguing to me and another opportunity to find ways to visualise the data and make it interactive for consumers.

Here's my quick 5 minute hack-up of the data pulled together using SuperDataHub.

Enjoy!

Surviving the Challenge

So I'm coming up to my last day as the inaugural IT Survivor for VMWare and it's definitely been a very interesting experience. Despite buggy internet at times, beautiful and sometimes distracting scenery and curious locals, we were able to film all the sequences required for the challenges set for me during the week. I even managed to get my own work sorted out at the same time which was definitely the more important of the 2 things.

In any case I definitely learned a lot whilst there and would do it again if given this kind of opportunity. Maybe next time they can do a 'versus' kind of challenge where hardened IT veterans do battle against each other where the winner gets fed and the loser gets fed.... to the sharks.

Anyway, remote working is something that in itself is a challenge because a lot of traditional business is done face to face. I've learned this week that more and more, the walls of being able to do so are being broken down and the level of engagement that you can have with customers in non face-to-face environments is ever increasing.

Check out the rough mobile phone videos that the guys from VMWare took:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g9sJS78Aqk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHRI_xa9crE

The actual film done by the professional crew is going to be cut and put together to coincide with VMWare's vForum across Asia Pac - http://info.vmware.com/content/virtualizationforum_WW

Can't wait to see how it turns out!




Photo courtesy of Allure Media / Lifehacker - http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2014/08/it-survivor-the-video-wrap-up/

MapBox

Interested in creating your own maps? MapBox have a set of tools online where you can sign up for free and create your own visualistions.

Here's a simple one I've done using polygons.

It's a little bit crude but at least there's stuff like this out there.

At Space-Time Research, we have mapping capabilities that work alongside our core products of data dissemination so if anyone out there is interested in improving their mapping capabilities then feel free to reach out to me.