Geography and Poetry

Or: poetry about place and places - a great DH example.

• Places of Poetry
• Poems about Places: The Poetry Atlas

The JPEG

Yep, the JPEG: Read Unraveling the JPEG and you will learn more than you ever wanted about this image file format - excellent!

Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft Power BI looks interesting - a fancy 'enterprise' version of Tableau maybe (dashboards are certainly hip these days).

Blockly

Blockly is a visual programming 'interface' that uses interlocking blocks to create a programming 'workflow'. Then, on the right, the underlying code is displayed in JavaScript, Python, etc. Looks interesting - I wish they would provide clearer instructions (= without the jargon) on how to install and setup Blockly.

Deforestation: Guatemala vs. Belize

Pretty clear differences in environmental policies highlighted here in Google Earth Timelapse along the Guatemala / Belize border.

Creative Climate Communication: 4 Scientists, 4 Approaches

Flourish

Flourish is great: a web-based interactive data viz tool with all the usual features - all very similar to the other players in this field such as Datawrapper. The free public version is great, anything beyond that is outside of what a 'normal' person in higher education would want to pay.

RAWGraphs

RAWGraphs is am open-source web-based data viz environment built on d3.js.

Collector for ArcGIS: Capture High-Accuracy Data

China's Belt and Road Initiative

China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a massive infrastructure project (aka. the New Silk Road). The goal is obvious: extend China's power by facilitating trade and opening new markets for goods and services - westward and southward.

Here's the catch: these projects are funded via loans from China to the participating countries. And of course China expects a return on that investment. If the countries cannot repay the loan, then China takes over the project (e.g. Sri Lanka's Hambantota port) and thus establishes its presence. Thus, some view the BRI as a 'Trojan Horse' to dominate the rest of Asia.

There is also a scientific side of the BRI as described here: How China is redrawing the map of world science (Nature, 2 May 2019).

Tinkercad

Tinkercad is a free 3-D design web-based CAD software: design, then export your design for 3-D printing. Not sure how it differs from SketchUp, but both are ultimately linked to large commercial companies.

How Was the Grand Canyon Formed?

How Does Your State Make Electricity?

How Does Your State Make Electricity? is a great data viz presentation from the NYT. However, I'm not a fan of these 'turd charts' as they imply that huge changes have occurred when the 'turds' cross each other.

Chart chooser based on data format

A Chart chooser based on data format seems like an obvious idea (seen on FlowingData based on Multiple views on how to choose a visualization). Here's the Chart Chooser.