iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Coming up on Friday, May 15! A new public Data Visualization for Public Health workshop. If you're an analyst, evaluator, researcher, or communicator who creates charts as part of your work, in 2.5 hours you'll learn how to build better charts (with hands on exercises). maven.com/communicatin...

maven.com

Data Visualization for Public Health by Amanda Makulec, MPH on Maven

Public health charts need to be accurate and engaging. But they often fall flat.

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Alberto Cairo @albertocairo.com · 04/12/2025

In the newsletter: 'Why Dashboards That Deliver' by @datarevelations.com @abmakulec.bsky.social and @acotgreave.bsky.social by should be your next read openvisualizationacademy.beehiiv.com/p/why-dashbo... #dataViz #infographics #dataJournalism #dataVisualization

openvisualizationacademy.beehiiv.com

Why Dashboards That Deliver Should Be Your Next Read

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Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Read the whole thing. You won’t be surprised, but you should be outraged.

Last week, as the Board held its 494th meeting, I listened to NSF staff say that DOGE had by fiat the authority to give thumbs up or down to grant applications which had been systematically vetted by layers of subject matter experts.

Our closed-to-the-public deliberations were observed by Zachary Terrell from the DOGE team. Through his Zoom screen, Terrell showed more interest in his water bottle and his cuticles than in the discussion. According to Nature Terrell, listed as a "consultant" in the NSF directory, had accessed the NSF awards system to block the dispersal of approved grants. The message I received was that the National Science Board had a role to play in name only

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AADIP desai @aadip.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

This is disturbing… a single ChatGPT query uses 10x more energy than using a search engine. One 100-word email drafted by ChatGPT-4 uses about a water bottle’s worth of H2O, and enough electricity to power 14 LED lightbulbs for an hour.

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

This loss the year that @USAID was dismantled feels like an extra gut punch.

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Coming up to mother's day, I've been thinking a lot about parenting and the intersections with my work. So, here are five ways for kids to learn to love data (with book recs, activities, and even a show!) that we've used with our littles. #dataviz vizresponsibly.substack.com/p/five-ways-...

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

BILL GATES: “The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one.” @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/bdd9...

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

@frank.computer's "Minimalism and the Absurdity of the Data-to-Ink Ratio" will make you chuckle if you're a #dataviz designer, but also challenges us in a good way: how has minimalism become a way for some “intellectuals” in our field to enforce aesthetics as law? www.frank.computer/blog/2025/04...

A pixelated image with dots and vague shapes of letters

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Nothing surprises me these days, but the absolute childishness and entitlement of "just say yes!" is painful.

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Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

This is one of the worst violations of research ethics I've ever seen. Manipulating people in online communities using deception, without consent, is not "low risk" and, as evidenced by the discourse in this Reddit post, resulted in harm. Great thread from Sarah, and I have additional thoughts. 🧵

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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 25/04/2025

PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

First they came for USAID...now the same playbook.

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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

He wasn’t just censored. They altered his responses to NYT questions on his publication Egregious. www.cnn.com/2025/04/17/h...

cnn.com

Top researcher quits NIH, citing censorship under RFK Jr. | CNN

Dr. Kevin Hall joins The Lead

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

It was an absolute honor judging #IronViz at #TC25. Each of the contestants did an INCREDIBLE job on their vizzes, and huge congrats to Bo on his win! #dataviz

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Taking the chart chat offline for the night and only spending a fraction talking about Dashboards that Deliver book things with @acotgreave.bsky.social @datarevelations.com & @jeffshaffer.bsky.social. Can't wait to see so many friendly faces at #TC25!

Three men and a woman in a selfie at a restaurant

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Being on an upper hotel floor as it starts to shake was not on my #TC25 bucket list.

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

In San Diego for #TC25 this week! Counting down to IronViz Wednesday and Chart Chat live on Thursday, and looking forward to seeing friends and colleagues this week. I've got DVS, Chart Chat, and Dashboards that Deliver swag in tow too. Stop me to say hi & I'm happy to share! #dataviz

Selfie of smiling woman in pink.sjort and graphic block print jacket in front of windows with stylized bar chart components.

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

We are destroying the systems and teams who improved screening standards, in private outbreaks, collect data on population health, and more. MAHA is an ideological joke wrapped in a fear of red food dye.

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

A moment of zen at sunrise for the timeline.

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Santiago Mayer @santiagomayer.com · 11/04/2025

I’ve never seen a tweet that more effectively communicates how we got to this current situation

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Research doesn't happen on this timeline. Plus, people with autism have been speaking out about how this kind of framing is dangerous and insulting (read the replies).

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Info+ submissions are open! This year's theme is around ENERGY (which I personally think dovetails with Outlier's "Reimagining" theme nicely). If you have an interesting perspective to share in the world of #dataviz and information design more broadly: informationplusconference.com/2025/submiss...

informationplusconference.com

Information+ Conference 2025

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Not one public health person is surprised by this, but it's frightening nonetheless.

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Taxation was a tool used by kings to demand compliance and suppress protests. RESIST.

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

It's election day here in Wisconsin! Vote Crawford, and prove that Musk cannot buy a seat on our Supreme Court and continue to support CHOICE here in Wisco. #dataviz with megablocks from @motherhoodforgood.bsky.social www.instagram.com/reel/DH1GiSS...

Blocks showing $1.5M donated by Pritzker and $2M donated by Soros.

Blocks showing $23M donated by Elon Musk.

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

A reminder that spending time in nature, whether that's in the mountains or 20m under the sea, is a beautiful thing.

Scuba diver swimming by a coral wall and massive light pink sea fan. Photo by Ross Makulec all rights reserved.

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Andy Cotgreave @acotgreave.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Have you seen a good candidate for a chart makeover? We seek ideas for Chart Chat at Tableau Conference. We have some ideas, but would love to hear from you. Got any good makeover candidates? cc: @datarevelations.com @jeffreyshaffer.bsky.social @abmakulec.bsky.social

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

The residents of DC already have NO VOTING REPRESENTATION IN CONGRESS. The license plates say "end taxation without representation." And now Congress wants to dictate terms on the District's budget spending? FFS

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Amanda Shendruk @not-ship.com · 12/03/2025

Trump's smoke-and-mirrors act for blurring reality: Step 1: Gather your data. Step 2: Disappear the data you don't like. Step 3: Replace with something else! Ta da! Inconvenient truths gone! Gift link: wapo.st/4iCmMtn

wapo.st

Opinion | How Trump is reshaping reality by hiding data

Sweeping statistical purges are part of a broader attempt to reinvent “truth.”

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

The whole series is gold for #dataviz designers, and more important now than ever. Sometimes, resistance comes in more inclusive, representative, thoughtful graphics.

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Have you nominated someone in #dataviz for the 2024 Impactful Community Leader award? There's no shortage of people doing more than great design, and @datavizsociety.bsky.social added this as one of two special IIB Awards to recognize those efforts. www.datavisualizationsociety.org/iib-awards-s...

datavisualizationsociety.org

Nominations — Data Visualization Society

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Eli Holder @elibryan.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Speaking at Outlier 📊 was an absolute blast! @datavizsociety.bsky.social put on a great show. 10/10 would recommend! You've got until Saturday to apply for Outlier 2025 in Miami! In case you need inspiration for your own talk, these were some of my favorites from last year... 🧵🧵🧵

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

After living in DC for 15 years, I finally have voting representation in Congress. With town halls! It's amazing! (Don't take it for granted!)

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 10/03/2025

Surely given Jay Bhattacharya's concern about censorship and academic freedom, he will step in and promptly reverse this decision.

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

The IIB Awards long list is LIVE! Enough incredible #dataviz to distract you for the rest of the day (or week)... Congrats to the @datavizsociety.bsky.social team for all of the work that happens behind the scenes to run the Awards. www.informationisbeautifulawards.com/showcase?act...

informationisbeautifulawards.com

Showcase

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Never underestimated the scrappiness of public health people. A volunteer team is working to rebuild a CDC site with all of the useful keep-us-healthier information that the site used to have. restoredcdc.org/www.cdc.gov/

restoredcdc.org

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

This absolutely guts me. There were so many examples of exceptional #dataviz and data journalism on the 538 site, and to see that work erased is a loss for our field. The main site URL redirects to the ABC News landing page. The Data page appears active for now: data.fivethirtyeight.com

data.fivethirtyeight.com

Our Data

We’re sharing the data and code behind some of our articles and graphics.

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

So many nerdy laughs in the replies.

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Join us in an hour for Chart Chat live! We're talking about charts that can be confusing (radar, upset, violins, and more) and will do a lighting round about the NYT opinions scatterplot. Stream on YouTube or LinkedIn www.youtube.com/live/ZzUtEM2...

youtube.com

Chart Chat 58: Charts that Confuse Us

YouTube video by Chart Chat

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the beggars out of here getter @milesklee.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Trump claimed the Biden administration spent $8 million "making mice transgender." The White House tried to back up this number with records of funding for research into cancer, asthma, and HIV, some of which used *transgenic* (genetically modified) mice.

rollingstone.com

Trump Decried Millions Spent 'Making Mice Transgender.' It Was Cancer and Asthma Research

President Trump falsely claimed that Biden spent $8 million on 'making mice transgender,' but the real research was for human health.

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

The number of people who I know on paid admin leave because this admin disagrees that their agency should exist just screams 'efficiency'. It's absurd.

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

I agree with the big picture points made around our ethics and responsibilities in #dataviz that Francis outlines. But we create charts of ideas all the time that help explain concepts or positions & I think those *can* have a lot of value. For me, the lead chart on the article fails 2 ways. 1/4

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

"Models make words, but people make meaning." Something similar applies in #dataviz: we can use data to set up the basic structures of charts, but all of the design decisions we make as chart creators and the ways people *use* those charts are what make them meaningful.

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Is the democratization of #dataviz a good thing? Reflecting on the Fourth Wave white paper I coauthored with @elijahmeeks.bsky.social, thinking through the more specific implications for #dataviz creators and for society as a whole. I'm optimistic. vizresponsibly.substack.com/p/fourth-wav...

vizresponsibly.substack.com

The Democratization of Data Visualization

Creating charts is easier than ever before. But is that a good thing?

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

I've kept my WaPo subscription because I think their graphics team does some exceptional work, but this directive is a clear directive to discontinue that subscription. A lot of things feel beyond our influence, but as consumers deciding where to spend money, collectively, makes a difference.

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Outlier is the annual #dataviz conference hosted by @datavizsociety.bsky.social and speaker applications for 2025 are finally open! The theme - Reimagining - invites all sorts of topics, from reimagining how we work to innovations in design. Can't wait for June!! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

docs.google.com

Outlier 2025 Speaker Application

Welcome to the Outlier 2025 Speaker Application! Outlier 2025 will be hosted in Miami, FL (USA) at University of Miami Newman Alumni Center from June 11-13, 2025. We're hoping to fill the room with +2...

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

What else would you add as seminal works in #dataviz from recent years?

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Amanda Makulec @abmakulec.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Nothing better than digging into the nuances of what makes a char type work well (or not). #dataviz

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