054  |  Designing Exploratory Data Visualization Tools w/ Miriah Meyer

054  |  Designing Exploratory Data Visualization Tools w/ Miriah Meyer

Author: Enrico Bertini and Moritz Stefaner May 28, 2015 Duration: 1:00:43
Hi all! We have Miriah Meyer with us in this episode to talk about how to build interactive data visualization tools for scientists and researchers. Miriah is Assistant Professor at University of Utah and one of the leading experts on the process of designing data visualizations for scientific discovery. To know more about her, take a look at her talk at TEDxWaterloo and her projects page, where she has numerous links to applications she developed in biology and other domains (see for instance MizBee and Pathline). On the show we talk about her work on analyzing and understanding the design process: required steps, major pitfalls and tips on how to collaborate with domain scientists. We also talk about her recent fascinating ethnographic work on "Reflections on How Designers Design With Data" and her ongoing work on building visualization tools for poetry! Enjoy the show! LINKS Miriah's Home Page Miriah's Projects TEDxWaterloo - Miriah Meyer - Information Visualization for Scientific Discovery Paper: How Designers Design With Data [ethnographic study] Paper: Design Study Methodology: Reflections from the Trenches and the Stacks [on the visualization design process] Paper: Visualization Collaborations What Works and Why The Lyra Visualization Design Environment (VDE) Paper: Overview: The Design, Adoption, and Analysis of a Visual Document Mining Tool For Investigative Journalists - Matthew Brehmer, Stephen Ingram, Jonathan Stray, and Tamara Munzner [one rare case of adoption study]

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
80 | Indexical Visualization with Dietmar Offenhuber [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:33
We have Dietmar Offenhuber, Assistant Professor at Northeastern University, on the show again to talk about “Indexical Visualizations”: visualizations that reduce the gap between the recorded phenomenon and its represent…
79 | Information Design with Isabel Meirelles [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:07
We talk with Isabel Meirelles, Professor in the Faculty of Design at OCAD University in Toronto, about her book "Design for Information" and Information Plus, the data visualization conference she organized in June.
77 | Polygraph and The Journalist Engineer Matt Daniels [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:57
We have Matt Daniels on the show, the "journalist engineer" behind Polygraph, a blog featuring beautiful journalistic pieces based on data. If you are not familiar with the site, stop now and take a look. Matt starts wit…
76 | Bocoup and OpenVis Conference [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:37
We talk with the data visualization team from Bocoup about how they work with groups to create open-source data visualization software. We also discuss the OpenVis Conference that they organize each year.
074  |  Data Ethics and Privacy with Eleanor Saitta [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:16
Eleanor is Etsy’s new Security Architect and "a hacker, designer, artist, writer, and barbarian." We talk with Eleanor about how to deal with data ethics and privacy.
073  |  Kim Albrecht on Untangling Tennis and the Cosmic Web [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:10
Kim is a visualization researcher and information designer. He currently works at the Center for Complex Network Research, the lab led by famous network physicist László Barabási. Kim works in a team of scientists to cre…
71 | Tapestry Conference Review with Robert Kosara [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:09
This is a special edition from Tapestry, the conference on Data Storytelling that gathers visualization experts, journalists, designers, NGOs, academics, etc. Enrico sits together with Robert Kosara to talk about the con…