Sign in

Enrico Bertini (FILWD)

@ebertini.bsky.social
390 followers 198 following 104 posts

FILWD on Substack: filwd.substack.com. Weekly post on data visualization and beyond (quite some AI lately). Data visualizer (teaching, researching, divulging, etc.) Faculty at Northeastern University. Italian. Father of 3.

PostsRepliesMedia
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
I love this example because it's a good illustration of the fact that one cannot simply learn the lesson from Anscombe's quadrants and think that increasing granularity always leads to greater transparency/faithfulness. Too many details can hide a signal as much as too few!
020
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
I wrote a post with my presentation/paper highlights from the fabulous IEEE VIS 2025 conference I attended two weeks ago in Vienna. This list is based exclusively on presentations I was able to attend. There are many more great papers! Let me know if there's anything you really like.
arxiv.org
Presentation/Paper Highlights from IEEE VIS 2025
Presentations of papers that caught my eye last week in Vienna
020
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
I’ve compiled a list of papers in my newsletter to get up to speed with the latest research on generative AI for data visualization. I hope you'll find it useful! filwd.substack.com/p/a-reading-...
filwd.substack.com
A Reading List on GenAI for Data Visualization
Enjoy the reading!
0101
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Maybe good for prototyping?
120
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
I had a great chat with Richard Brath on the use of AI tools to visualize text data. Have you ever seen his experiments? Really fascinating! You can watch our chat on my Substack: filwd.substack.com/p/visualizin.... Make sure to check his fabulous blog posts too! richardbrath.wordpress.com.
filwd.substack.com
Visualizing Text Data Using AI w/ Richard Brath
Exploring Richard's experiments on visualizing data with Claude AI
010
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
maven.com/p/60a5f9/can...
maven.com
Can You Trust It? 4 Ways Data Visualizations Mislead
When reading or designing a visualization, it is essential to possess the skills to identify data interpretation problems. As a data analyst, you want to spot issues to avoid fooling yourself. As a…
010
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
The slides for my free webinar on "Misleading Data Visualization" are ready! Join me this Monday, May 12, at 12 p.m. ET, to learn my framework for detecting misleading visualizations. (Find directions on how to enroll in the thread.)
150
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Oh, sorry ... I did not realize it!
000
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Question: What process do you follow to add icons to your data visualizations, diagrams, tables, or infographics to convey a concept? I think icons can be very powerful to quickly orient people to the right information, but also incredibly hard to get right. What strategies and tools do you use?
010
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Yes! You can try! It takes probably less than 5 minutes! :)
110
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
New experiment to see if ChatGPT can spot data interpretation errors in charts. I tried with four classic misleaders. It got two out of four right. See the details in my newsletter post. What do you think? What else should I try?
open.substack.com
Can LLMs Detect Reasoning Errors with Charts?
Yes and no.
151
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
We are organizing a Vis+AI meetup at Northeastern University on April 3rd. Join us if you are in the area! P.s. We are trying to see if we can also stream the event online. www.eventbrite.com/e/visai-meet...
031
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Thanks Chiqui! Somehow, I never managed to learn it.
100
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
What tool do you use to polish a visualization exported from a data visualization tool like Tableau, ggplot, etc. (say using SVG)? Is Illustrator the best solution, or is it something else?
320
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
I started using Grok for the first time yesterday. Wow!!! Has anyone tried it? It feels like a completely different kind of dialogue. It's hard to put my finger on what it is exactly, but I am really impressed.
000
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
It's fabulous!!! I'll share it with my students. Thanks so much!!!
020
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
So timely!
020
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
I need your help: do you have examples of visualizations with before and after clutter reduction interventions? I remember seeing a few ones (some animated), but I can't recall where I saw them. Can you send me examples if you have any? Thanks!!! 🙏
170
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
Great to hear I was useful somehow!
030
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Are you a "data fiber artist" (representing data through knitting, crocheting, embroidery, sewing, weaving, etc.)? Please help my PhD student Sydney collect information about this fascinating practice for her thesis with this survey: skpurdue.github.io/DataFiberArts/. Please repost! Thx!
0133
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
P.s. I have become incredibly skeptical about the relevance of many distinctions we make in visualization. Often, there are bigger problems to address elsewhere in the pipeline.
040
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
It seems sensible to avoid gaps when it's a histogram. But overall, I am not sure that it matters a lot. My intuition is that most people have a hard time with histograms, whether there are gaps or not.
120
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
IEEE VIS
010
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
Being invited to be part of an "important" committee.
010
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
This plot is masterful. FT has become the best in news graphics, hands down.
050
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Idea for a new focus app: you can unblock websites/apps only after conversing with a chatbot. If you manage to have a persuasive enough argument, you are granted access.
020
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
Start a blog or something similar. Publish intermediate products allowing them to be completely imperfect. Tell yourself you need to publish something every N days no matter what. You can always refine it later. (Side note: morning routines, exercise and cold plunges do wonders for me.)
140
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
Yes!!!!!! P.s. "Normal" is boring.
020
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 21/12/2024
I don’t know if this helps but I feel exactly the same despite all these years. You are not alone! :) I also find that sometimes it’s impossible to please everyone because students want literally opposite things.
010
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
For me the bottleneck is not in replying but just removing all the emails I don’t need to reply to and just archive. It’s really surprising there is no solution to that yet. HeyMail has a nice feature to label accounts for being in or out. But that the best I’ve seen so far.
010
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Maybe because negative feedback points us towards improvement whereas positive ones just tend to confirm the ideal picture we have of ourselves in our mind? We want things to be in order. Negative feedback, even if it’s small, creates a gap we instinctively want to fill.
100
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Thanks so much for sharing Jan!!! 🙏
010
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
“… many of us become scientists to carve our own path, not become ruled by external demands.” Exactly👌
020
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
I agree with many things you all wrote here but I think I am missing the context. What would be an authoritarian reform in science? Is that some kind of current even I missed? 🙄
100
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
P.s. I have done GTD for many years and it always took me too much time to kept it running. It also generated a lot of anxiety because I could not possibly do everything listed.
020
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
By deciding what matters the most to you. The world has become too chaotic (at least for me) to keep track of everything. I have 1-3 things that I list as important at the beginning of each week (the big rocks) and that’s where my focus is.
120
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
To-do lists are highly overrated. A better approach is to list the top 1-3 things and let the rest run whatever course they have to run.
100
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
Misinformation or misinterpretation? 10 contrasting assertions:
buff.ly
Misinformation Vs. Misinterpretation
In 10 contrasting assertions
010
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
Maybe even inversely correlated? 🤣
010
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
Has anyone ever documented and tracked the evolution of a whole research project l, from ideation to publication and beyond? It would be cool to do it more systematically and really see how projects unfold over time. I am thinking of implementing this idea starting next year.
020
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Open reviewing is a great idea!
010
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
You guys gave me some really good ideas!!! Love your routines. The only thing is, I have to do it before my kids wake up and then it’s all 😱
010
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Option 1.
000
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
I wrote an initial post describing my growing discomfort with an excessive focus on publications in academia. Curious to hear your thoughts! buff.ly/4g47VXP
buff.ly
What If Papers Are Holding Us Back?
A popular LinkedIn post and my sense of discomfort with the state of academia.
010
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
Steven Few’s Show Me the Numbers. It’s the best for foundational knowledge if you focus on static/communicative plots.
010
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
What do you mean by applied philosophy of visualization? I can’t picture it in my mind.
120
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
What if the construct is invalid. You can repeat it a million times and you’ll still have BS.
000
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
What is AT?
100
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
There should be something like DNS but for social networks, no?!
110
Enrico Bertini (FILWD) @ebertini.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
So cool to hear that. Thanks for sharing. You made me very very happy. 🤗
010