iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 07/07/2025

Leading web engineering, data viz design, and requirements gathering taught me a ton about building performant, dynamic data products. Grateful for the #svelte and #d3js communities and colleague @mitchellthorson.com. Project: apps.urban.org/features/edu... GitHub: github.com/UrbanInstitu...

Brainstorm board of visualization research and application layout wireframes

Draft engineering diagrams of data storage and loading

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 07/07/2025

This tool gives access to 60+ metrics tracking student milestones and resources as they move toward the workforce—available at state, county, and Census tract levels, with six disaggregates and trended over time.

Figma board of data viz and map component designs

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 07/07/2025

Earlier this spring, my team at the Urban Institute was impacted by layoffs due to federal revenue cuts. While I’m searching for my next role, I’m excited to share my final project: the Education-to-Workforce Framework Data Tool. apps.urban.org/features/edu...

Dashboard containing a map and visualizations on the left

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 03/07/2025

Thank you so much Alvin!! Agreed, and while in the moment it feels like a roadblock it's really just leading us to the next evolution! Appreciate you taking a look, keep up the great work

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 03/07/2025

New case study up on my redesigned website! Full process of building a custom #datavisualization tool: brainstorming and prototyping to refining the UX through cross-functional teamwork and creative problem-solving! Inspired by @alv9n.com's great project walkthroughs!

benkates.com

Ben Kates - Case Study: Getting a Good Job Depends More on Race and Gender than Education

Ben is a data-focused technologist based in Philadelphia, PA creating custom data experiences for clients across industries.

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Reposted by Ben Kates (he/him)

Mitchell Thorson @mitchellthorson.com · 15/05/2025

This week, @urbaninstitute.bsky.social launched the Education-to-Workforce Framework data tool. This was one of the more complex @svelte.dev apps we've built, and @benkates.com led the way on development and made something really cool with this one. apps.urban.org/features/edu...

Screenshot of a series of data visualizations. There are three metrics displayed: Share of students in grade 3 who meet grade-level standards in math, and in language arts, as well as the share of students in grade 8 who meet grade-level standards in math. For each metric, there is a line chart showing the trend from 2013 through 2020 for Cook County, Illinois, the state of Illinois, and the U.S. as a nation.

A choropleth map showing the share of students in grade 3 who meet grade-level standards in math by county in the mid-Western United States. Cook county Illinois is highlighted.

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 18/05/2025

Thank you Jacque and Mitchell!! Very proud of the engineering and design decisions we made on this one!

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 20/11/2024

Same! The options for detail (compact, stacked, details, list) are very welcome. Plus reminders show up in the individual day too? So good!

Calendar screenshot with reminders at top

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 16/05/2024

Attention @datawrapper power users! I built a @raycastapp extension just for YOU! This extension allows you to view, search, open, and duplicate your Datawrapper #datavisualization anywhere on your Mac! Check it out and let me know what you think! www.raycast.com/benkates/datawrapper

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 13/07/2021

I've been working on my first complex @d3visualization project for the last month and I have to say the #rstats data manipulation skills I've developed work so well with the "custom" aspect of custom viz! Very fun!

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 29/03/2021

Has anyone come across an #rstats package that converts SQL parameters into structured data? ie: select * from suez_canal where boat_name = 'Ever Given' and stuck = 'T' would result in a dataframe with a row: select * from suez_canal | boat_name = 'Ever Given' | stuck = 'T'

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 12/02/2021

I’ve been on clubhouse for 20 minutes. I’ve never been to sxsw talks but I imagine this is exactly what it’s like

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 04/12/2020

I am completely mesmerized by the @Apple homepage this holiday season...love the rotating tech!

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 23/09/2020

I love online music communities, especially on Twitch. New infographic on the rise of virtual music appreciation this year, built in #GoogleDataStudio! datastudio.google.com/reporting/411…

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 21/08/2020

Had a #recentgrad reach out and ask how necessary certifications are for getting that first analyst job. I said understanding of the analyst role + portfolio > certifications, what do you think? #data #rstats #Tableau #GoogleAnalytics

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 03/08/2020

Well I now have an excuse to share my love of mechanical keyboards, thank you @sharlagelfand for creating such a fun #rstats package! Got pretty close recreating mine in ggplot! Frame: Filco Majestouch 2 w/ Silent Red Cherry MX Switches Keycaps: Jessica GMK Plum from Massdrop t.co/qsoixvJDaR

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 24/05/2020

Liked the use of these in particular: 📦metathis: SEO/social media sharing friendly tags 📦shinyLP: nice landing page (LP) experience 📦highcharter: charts, great custom theming 📦leaflet.extras: what it sounds like :) 📦waiter: loading screens 📦sever: disconnected screen

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 24/05/2020

Just spent a little while digging into this tool - a really impressive "big" #rstats #shiny project. Aside from showing very important data from multiple sources, the frontend/UX is unique and makes use of multiple packages to tie everything together really nicely. Great work! t.co/31kz...

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 10/04/2020

Excited to share a #GoogleDataStudio report focused on #selfcare during the #COVID19 pandemic. Hope everyone is doing their best to take good care of themselves and others! Medium: t.co/C8xwNqdgMR Report: t.co/exr9cC5Y5o #infographic #selfcare @GoogleTrends

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 06/04/2020

I've been looking at a lot of #GoogleTrends recently and was surprised to see such a drop in interest for the "Vegetarianism" topic in the US

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 28/02/2020

Excited about this one! A @googleanalytics click heatmap viz in #GoogleDataStudio - thanks to @PatStrickler for the original post! Medium Post: t.co/YfoTnlmrI6 DS Report: t.co/QZ3Lvaf3UV Shoutout @mourner for putting together the JavaScript library #simpleheat!

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 10/02/2020

How do @DrexelUniv, @Penn and @TempleUniv stack up against each other in #socialmedia engagement? Learn more in the new post below! Medium Post: t.co/dz6xE0m2fP #GoogleDataStudio Report: t.co/IL6z49Pagu

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 06/02/2020

Thanks for the opportunity + CCG @Lebow for hosting! My deck from last night can be found below, lots of #GoogleDataStudio links and examples inside! docs.google.com/presentation/d/16-m… x.com/bengarvey/status/122520123019…

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 24/01/2020

Woah! "Extract theme from image" in #GoogleDataStudio! This is awesome, new? cc: @Helpfullee @wissi_analytics

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 17/01/2020

New post! Learn how to create a custom Google Analytics #rshiny application using #deckgl + @Mapbox (source code + app template included) Thanks to @HoloMarkeD for all of the #rstats GA 📦 development! medium.com/compassred-data-blog/goo…

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 31/12/2019

Embraced the fact that everyone's just winging it and that I shouldn't put so much pressure on myself -- Thank you to everyone who has supported me this year, I couldn't have done it without you! 3/3

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 25/12/2019

Some very charty gifts this season!

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 23/12/2019

There are two components in this example: a native line chart and a custom viz set to date/pageviews ordered by date. Still relatively buggy but "Style" pane options could be things like volume, key/scale, # of octaves, etc. Fun to explore!

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 23/12/2019

Played around with some data sonification this weekend using #tonejs - more so another proof of concept! #DataStudioDevs

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 17/12/2019

Really excited/honored to be speaking about #DataStudio and the potential around custom viz! x.com/bengarvey/status/120675421712…

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 13/12/2019

Looks like if you add "/appview" to the end of a #DataStudio report URL you get a fullscreen experience, is this new @Helpfullee @wissi_analytics ?

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 12/12/2019

Question for the #rstats community: why am I getting significantly higher memory usage in my #shiny app when using unique() vs. distinct() on a large df? 🤔

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 03/12/2019

I've been having a lot of fun diving into #DataStudio Community Visualizations! I shared some of my learnings so far, excited to continue on this journey! Medium Post: t.co/oGdxFTnolE Data Studio Viz: t.co/DSJvLSTAgG #DataStudioDevs

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 23/11/2019

I'm preparing a talk for a business analytics student group and listening back on the "analytics advice for the recent grad" episode of @AnalyticsHour (ep 18) - realized that's the first appearance of @tgwilson's "rock, flag and..." signoff - 110 episodes later and still going 😂

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 30/10/2019

Great #phillydataviz meetup tonight on creative coding. One highlight was @willstall showing some #GLSL examples, his work is impressive and inspiring!

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 19/10/2019

Having a great time at my first #bcphilly, definitely won't be my last. This talk on how people feel when consuming data and the associated variables was very very interesting, thanks @jmc_lbi!

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 09/10/2019

Learned so much about how to build a #networkgraph in #rstats tonight, thanks for hosting! x.com/RLadiesPhilly/status/11817096…

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 29/07/2019

#MakeoverMonday looking at the most liked emojis used by my favorite Twitter bot @EmojiMashupBot - this is just a first pass, more to come!

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 22/07/2019

#MakeoverMonday text analysis of the #podcast titles saved in my @pocketcasts library! 32% contain the word "data", listed some of my favorites!

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Ben Kates (he/him) @benkates.com · 15/07/2019

#MakeoverMonday using some #TidyTuesday UFO data from a few weeks back. I wouldn't be surprised to see this spike in 2019 given all of the #Area51 talk!

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