{"id":90036,"date":"2025-01-08T07:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T07:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/?p=90036"},"modified":"2025-11-17T17:38:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T17:38:23","slug":"favourite-data-resources-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/2025\/01\/08\/favourite-data-resources-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"The big list of data visualisation resources 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By <strong>Alastair Otter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every year I update  update my list of favourite data-related resources (podcasts, newsletters, websites and guides). The core of the list remains relatively stable across years but publications do come and go and podcasts go silent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I first started this list it was mostly focused on journalism-related data resources. Over time this has shifted towards the broader data and visualisation community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is an opinionated list, not a comprehensive one. There is as much not on this list as there is on. If there are things that you feel are egregious omissions please let me know (email at the end) so I can take a look. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First up &#8230; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3881\">Favourite blogs &amp; publications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"0db3\">Are blogs coming back? It feels like they may be though I think they&#8217;re probably called &#8216;Substacks&#8217; now. Either way there are some fine resources out there like: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nightingaledvs.com\/\">Nightingale<\/a>&nbsp;is the newly revamped Data Visualisation Society website to go alongside the Nightingale magazine<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flowingdata.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Flowing Data<\/a>&nbsp;by Nathan Yau ought to be at the top of every data visualisation practitioner&#8217;s reading list. Awesome ideas, regularly<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.datawrapper.de\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chartable<\/a>&nbsp;by Datawrapper is chock-full of great tips and deep dives into things like colour and accessibility and more<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/policyviz.com\/blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PolicyViz<\/a> by Jon Schwabish is a great companion to his equally good books <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sherwood.news\/chartr\/newsletters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ChartR<\/a> was recently bought by Sherwood News but still does a great newsletter with chart ideas<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.effectivedatastorytelling.com\/blog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Effective Data Storytelling<\/a> by Brent Dykes is the companion blog to his excellent book of the same name<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/codera.co.za\/blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Codera<\/a>&#8216;s blog (and companion newsletter) mostly features SA-focused charts that are great for sparking ideas<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"31aa\">Must-read newsletters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"6a2a\">A mix of newsletters covering data sources, story ideas, techniques and examples of data journalism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.data-is-plural.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Data is Plural<\/a>&nbsp;by Jeremy Singer-Vine, a weekly newsletter with interesting datasets. You can also catch up on previous datasets with the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/1wZhPLMCHKJvwOkP4juclhjFgqIY8fQFMemwKL2c64vk\/edit#gid=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Data is Plural datasets<\/a>&nbsp;spreadsheet<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/gravyanecdote.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How to speak Data<\/a> by Andy Cotgreave is a monthly newsletter covering everything from AI and data to chart disasters on TV<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/newsletters\/off-the-charts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Off the Charts<\/a>\u00a0by The Economist (you now need to be a subscriber, but it&#8217;s almost worth the cost of a subscription alone)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/puntofisso.net\/newsletter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Quantum of Sollazzo<\/a>&nbsp;by Giuseppe Sollazzo, a long-time favourite<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/newsletters\/how-to-read-this-chart\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How to Read this Chart<\/a>&nbsp;by The Washington Post is extremely accessible reading on chart-making<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/toolsforreporters.substack.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tools for Reporters<\/a>&nbsp;by Samantha Sunne is not strictly data or viz but a great resource<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/dataelixir.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Data Elixir<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 Data science-y newsletter, more technical often but also covers a broad range of skill and interest levels<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/lse.ac.uk\/journalismai\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Journalism AI<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 From the Journalism AI project at the LSE<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/filwd.substack.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">FILWD<\/a>&nbsp;by Enrico Bertini is one of my favourite newsletters, mostly because it delves into the academic side of data visualisation and unearths hard to find research papers on the subject. But it does tend to be more technical<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/newsletters\/upshot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Upshot<\/a>&nbsp;by The New York Times, great inspiration for data-based stories<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/latinometrics.com\/#articles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Latinometrics<\/a> is charts about Latin America<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3fdc\">Listen-up podcasts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are relatively few data-related podcasts I listen to regularly. It may be that I&#8217;m missing some but many of the podcasts I used to listen to seem to have slowed down production or even stopped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/policyviz.com\/podcast\/the-policyviz-podcast\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Policyviz Podcast<\/a>&nbsp;by Jon Schwabish<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/dataviztoday.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Data Viz Today<\/a>&nbsp;by Alli Torban<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visualisingdata.com\/podcast\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Explore\/Explain<\/a>&nbsp;by Andy Kirk<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Outside of purely data-related podcasts there are tons of fantastic video podcasts I do listen to regularly: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lennysnewsletter.com\/podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lenny&#8217;s Podcast<\/a> is aimed at product managers, but there is so much more that makes this an almost essential listen for me. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/syntax.fm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Syntax<\/a> is still my go-to for (mostly) Javascript-related shows, but broad enough to spark a ton of ideas. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@developervoices\">Developer Voices<\/a> with Kris Jenkins is a quirky, deep-dive into tech that very often produces unexpected insight, like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pZV9FvdKmLc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DuckDB<\/a> episode which is super-relevant to data work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"bb07\">Tutorials &amp; Guides<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PL7HotvlLKHCs9nD1fFUjSOsZrsnctyV2R\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">QGIS Uncovered<\/a>: QGIS YouTube tutorial series by Steven Bernard<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/currankelleher\/videos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Curren Kelleher Tutorials<\/a>: YouTube courses focused on learning visualisation tools like D3.js and more recently AI<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLfv89tPxlTiVIrwuSBCISiBaGSH1CJR5-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">One Chart at a Time<\/a>: A 56-episode series in which Jon Schwabish talks to experts about different charts and how they work. Hasn&#8217;t been updated recently but still worth watching<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/Observablehq\/playlists\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Observable Demos and Tutorials<\/a>: A series of YouTube videos introducing the Observable data analysis and visualisation platform<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/Quartz\/bad-data-guide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Quartz Guide to Bad Data<\/a>: By Quartz<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/propublica\/guides\/blob\/master\/data-bulletproofing.md\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A Guide to Bulletproofing Your Data<\/a>: By ProPublica<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/veltman\/principles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Principles for Making Things for the Web<\/a>: A guide by Noah Veltman<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/2019.wattenberger.com\/blog\/d3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How to Learn D3.js<\/a>: Interactive guide to D3.js by Amelia Wattenberger is still one of the best ways to learn one of the more difficult visualisation tools<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/ft-interactive\/chart-doctor\/tree\/master\/visual-vocabulary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Financial Times Visual Vocabulary<\/a>: A downloadable guide to different types of charts and their uses<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kbridge.org\/en\/guide-3-best-practices-for-data-journalism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Best Practices for Data Journalism<\/a>: by Kuek Ser Kuang Keng<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/stephanieevergreen.com\/data-visualization-checklist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Evergreen Data Visualization Checklist<\/a>: Stephanie Evergreen<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/TamaraMunzner\/playlists\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tamara Munzner YouTube series on data visualisation<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/AmeliaMcNamara\/playlists\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Amelia McNamara YouTube series on R and statistics<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/mattwaite.github.io\/sports\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sports Data Analysis and Visualization<\/a>&nbsp;by Matt Waite<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/moriartynaps.org\/command-carto-part-one\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">MapShaper command line tutorial part 1<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/moriartynaps.org\/command-carto-part-two\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">part 2<\/a> for some command line carto<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.helenmakesmaps.com\/post\/how-to-sql-a-guide-for-gis-users\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How to SQL: A guide for GIS users<\/a>&nbsp;by Helen McKenzie<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/bbc.github.io\/rcookbook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">BBC\u2019s cookbook for R graphics<\/a>, a guide to making BBC style charts in R<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/datavisualizationwithsvelte.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Data Visualisation with Svelte<\/a> is a great primer on how to harness the power of Svelte and D3. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"5ce3\">Inspiration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/pudding.cool\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Pudding<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.data-to-viz.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">From Data to Viz<\/a>: A tool to help you decide on the best visual for your data<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/dataisbeautiful\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">r\/dataisbeautiful<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 Reddit home of data inspiration and ideas<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/infographics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The South China Morning Post Infographics<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.informationisbeautifulawards.com\/showcase?type=awards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Kantar Information is Beautiful awards showcase<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/monachalabi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mona Chalabi\u2019s Instagram<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/india.in.pixels\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">India in Pixels\u2019s Instagram<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/graphics.reuters.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Reuters Graphics<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/theeuropeancorrespondent\/\">The European Correspondent&#8217;s Instagram<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nl.pinterest.com\/nadiehbremer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nadieh Bremer&#8217;s Pinterest<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>What am I missing? Drop me an email with something that you think ought to be on this list: <a href=\"mailto:alastair@theoutlier.co.za\">alastair@theoutlier.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":90045,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447,1321,1387],"tags":[],"newsletter-post":[],"site":[],"class_list":["post-90036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-databites","category-freelogin","category-the-outlier"],"acf":{"post_style":"bc","show_on_front":"Yes","link_through":"Yes","big_number":"","big_number_caption":"","big_number_link":"","big_number_background":"","big_number_text_colour":"#000000","big_number_icon":false,"big_number_wide":"yes","featured_chart":false,"flourish_chart_id":"","flourish_sub_title":"","flourish_chart_width":"medium","is_newsletter_post":"No","chart_url":"","background_colour":"#0089AA","text_colour":"#FFFFFF"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90036"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90051,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90036\/revisions\/90051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90036"},{"taxonomy":"newsletter-post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter-post?post=90036"},{"taxonomy":"site","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/site?post=90036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}