052  |  Science Communication at SciAm w/ Jen Christiansen

052  |  Science Communication at SciAm w/ Jen Christiansen

Author: Enrico Bertini and Moritz Stefaner April 2, 2015 Duration: 1:02:36
Hey yo, we have Jen Christiansen from Scientific American with us in DS#52. Jen is art director of information graphics at Scientific American magazine where she is been for about then years and she has a background in natural science illustration from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Science communication is one of our favorite topics and we are so happy to have such an amazing expert like Jen on the show. Jen reveals the nitty gritty of scientific visualization and illustration as experienced by one of the top scientific communication magazines in the world. "How does a scientific piece come to life? Where does an idea for a new piece come from? How do they interact with the scientists to make sure everything they report is accurate and yet accessible for a broad audience? And what does need to be done before an illustration gets ready for print?" We discuss this and many other questions with Jen. Enjoy the show! This episode of Data Stories is sponsored by Tableau. You can download a free trial at http://tableau.com/datastories. jen-christiansen LINKS Jen Christiansen’s home page http://jenchristiansen.com Scientific American: http://scientificamerican.com A Look under the Hood of Online Data Visualization (collection of SciAm graphics from the past) Where the Wild Bees Are: Documenting a Loss of Native Bee Species between the 1800s and 2010s (Piece on Bees done with Moritz) (project’s page from Moritz) Jan Willem Tulp’s The Flavor Connection (on food pairings theory) - and original scientific article and graphics from Barabási’s lab (pdf) Pop Culture Pulsar: Origin Story of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures Album Cover (artists using scientists' images - transcending the context of a visualization)

Enrico Bertini and Moritz Stefaner have a conversation you’re invited to join. Their Data Stories podcast sits at a fascinating crossroads, where the technical craft of data analytics meets the intuitive design of visual representation. Each episode feels like pulling up a chair at a cafe with two experts who are genuinely curious, unpacking not just the "how" but the "why" behind the ways we see and understand information. You’ll hear them explore the latest tools and research, but also grapple with the deeper questions of narrative, aesthetics, and human perception that give data its true meaning and impact. The discussions are grounded in their professional experiences, making complex ideas in technology and design feel accessible and immediately relevant. It’s a space for anyone who creates, studies, or simply wonders about the charts, maps, and diagrams that shape our world. By weaving together perspectives from arts, education, and visual practice, this podcast reveals how data, when thoughtfully handled, can tell stories that are as compelling as they are informative. Tune in for a consistently thoughtful look at the evolving language of numbers and shapes.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 170

Data Stories
Podcast Episodes
009  |  Bridging academia and industry with Danyel Fisher [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:15:46
In this episode we talk about bridging academia and industry. We've touched upon this issue many times in the past that we decided to record a whole a special issue about it. To help us, we invited Danyel Fisher, a renow…
008  |  Interview with Jeff Heer [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:11
We are raising the bar here! In this new episode we have Jeff Heer, Assistant Professor at Stanford and creator of 4 (!) data visualization toolkits/languages (Prefuse, Flare, Protovis, D3). Jeff is a very well regarded…
007  |  Color (feat. Gregor Aisch) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:34
We talk about color, and color you know... it's huge. To get some help we invited Gregor Aisch from Driven By Data and asked him to talk about his experience with color and his super useful library chroma.js.
006  |  On Food [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:06
In this episode we talk about food. Food? Yes, food. Moritz recently created the Müsli Ingredient Network, a visualization of ingredient combinations in müsli, and we took this as an opportunity to talk about one of our…
005  |  How To Learn Data Visualization (with Andy Kirk) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:10:38
We love Andy so much that we decided to keep him with us for another episode. This time we talk about how to learn visualization, which is the perfect topic for Andy given his experience teaching visualization courses an…
004  |  Malofiej 20 (with Andy Kirk) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:37
We have our first guest on the show! Andy Kirk and Moritz just came back from Malofiej 20, the Infographic World Summit, and we used the chance to discuss our impressions of the event — the conference, the awards, the wo…
003  |  How do you evaluate visualization? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:23
First we answer the listener questions we have received. Then we move on to the main topic: how do you evaluate visualization? After discussion some contests in episode #2, we've realized how key an issue evaluation is h…