We had a great time chatting with listeners yesterday during our Reddit Ask Me Anything! We covered a lot of ground talking about data visualization techniques, software, aesthetics, strategies for freelancing, and our favorite Data Stories guest. (Spoiler alert: We don’t have one!)
Thanks so much to everyone who joined us!
On our thoughts about statistics:
rhiever: Can you remember a time where the use of statistics dramatically changed your opinion on something? A scenario where the stats disproved many of your preconceived notions about a topic?
ebertini: I don’t have one off the top of my head. This would come as a surprise but rarely I find statistics very convincing as an argument. Most of the time I can see how limited they are. There are always some other statistics that are not shown and would be needed to have a much better picture of a given problem.
On our favorite data visualizations:
zonination: What, of all the dataviz you’ve seen, would you consider to be the most beautiful? What about the most effective or compelling?
MoritzStefaner: My all time favorite are pretty much everything from Wattenberg/Viegas, Ben Fry, Jonathan Harris.
ebertini: Ah! Jonathan Harris! The best in terms of emotional impact. Absolutely love his work.
ebertini: I am of course biased here but I think Moritz’s work is the one that best achieves the right balance between beauty and effectiveness. The Better Life Index is a really good example of this balance.
MoritzStefaner: Ooh, Enrico did you delete all our past recordings, or why are you getting so cosy here? Something must be up 😀
And, of course, the age-old question:
eagereyes_org: Who’s really your favorite, Robert or Andy?
ebertini: Robert (much better accent)
MoritzStefaner: OK, I’ll take Andy (or who was the funny Austrian guy again? They are so hard to tell apart – almost like twins!)
MoritzStefaner: Has anyone ever seen Andy and Robert in the same room, at the same time? #justsayin
Couldn’t make the chat? Want more? Check out the whole conversation on Reddit!