Audrey Watters
Audrey Watters is a technology writer and rabble-rouser with a Master's Degree in Folklore. She was working on a PhD in Comparative Literature, but chose instead to write about data, culture, education and technology outside of academia rather than finish her dissertation. Audrey has written for ReadWriteWeb, Huffington Post, and NPR.
Strata Week: New life for an old census
The 1940 census makes its data debut, and the White House shows off its data initiative.
In this week's data news, the National Archives releases the data from the 1940 Census, the federal government outlines its big data plans, and an app uproar leads to good thinking on privacy and sharing.
Visualization of the Week: The U.S. Wind Map
Animated Van Gogh-like patterns reveal wind speed over a U.S. map.
This week's visualization comes from data artists Martin Wattenberg and Fernanda Viegas, who have created an "almost live" interactive wind map of the United States.
Strata Week: The allure of a data haven
Wikileaks and Sealand may not be a good match, ThinkUp reboots, Factual's CEO gets the NYT's attention.
In this week's data news, a look at Sealand as a potential data haven for Wikileaks, ThinkUp reboots, and the New York Times profiles Factual's Gil Elbaz.
Visualization of the Week: Anachronistic language in “Mad Men”
A look at the historical accuracy of "Mad Men's" dialogue.
"Mad Men" is praised for its precise attention to historical visuals, but how does its dialogue stack up against text from the 1960s? Ben Schmidt's new visualization explores that question.
Visualization of the Week: Anachronistic language in "Mad Men"
A look at the historical accuracy of "Mad Men's" dialogue.
"Mad Men" is praised for its precise attention to historical visuals, but how does its dialogue stack up against text from the 1960s? Ben Schmidt's new visualization explores that question.
Strata Week: Machine learning vs domain expertise
Debating the data skills of machines and experts, a key data move for Microsoft, and Google Analytics gets social.
This week's data news includes another look at the Strata Conference's debate about machine learning versus subject matter expertise, Raghu Ramakrishnan moves from Yahoo to Microsoft, and more social data comes to Google Analytics.
Visualization of the Week: Visualizing Big History
ChronoZoom takes timelines to an entirely new level.
ChronoZoom is a tool for visualizing Big History, a field of study that combines multiple disciplines to examine events since the beginning of time.
Strata Week: Infographics for all
A new infographic tool, San Francisco upgrades its open data efforts, and decades of Stephen Wolfram's data.
Visual.ly launches an infographic creation tool, San Francisco upgrades its open data initiative, and Stephen Wolfram offers a peek into more than 20 years of his personal data.
Visualization of the Week: Kids Count in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., parents have a new view of schools and other data related to child welfare.
This week's visualization, the result of a Data Without Borders Datadive, aggregates school performance, child care facilities and other factors relevant to child welfare in Washington, D.C.
Strata Week: Profiling data journalists
The work of data journalists and a comparison of four data markets.
This week's data news includes a look at the work of various data journalists, Edd Dumbill surveys four data marketplaces, and the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference experiences impressive growth.