#another Jason hickel post

[baby-girl-aaron-dessner]

[warninggraphiccontent]

22 March 2019

Bites, bites baby

I'm very excited to announce a new data event series at the Institute for Government called 'Data Bites'. The first one takes place here in London on Wednesday 3 April - join us in person (or via livestream, or Twitter #IfGDataBites).

We think there's a lot of interesting work going on with government data, but a) what we mean by 'data' is incredibly wide and spans various areas, organisations, and communities who might not always be talking to one another, b) senior leaders still don't always get what better data could do for government, and c) it can be more difficult to discover these projects than it should be. So we decided to do something about it.

Each Data Bites event consists of four quickfire presentations - of only eight minutes each (there are eight bits in a byte, we're hilarious) - from people working on projects involving government data. The presenter then faces eight minutes of questions, before we move onto the next speaker. At the first event, we'll hear from:

Louisa Nolan of the ONS Data Science Campus, talking about their faster economic activity indicators project

MHCLG about their work on housing and land data

Vocalink, who are kindly supporting the event

One other project to be confirmed shortly.

Sign up to the first event here, sign up to the IfG newsletter to hear about future events here, and more details from me on Twitter here. If you've come across something we should be showcasing, please get in touch!

In the meantime, this week's bumper collection of links:

Graphic content

It's all about that race, about that race (bar chart race)

A “Bar Chart Race” animation showing the changing ranks of the 10 biggest cities in the world since 1500 (John Burn-Murdoch)

Bar chart race: the most populous cities through time* (FT)

Largest charities in England and Wales, from 2004 to 2017 (David Kane)

GDP/head of EU regions since 1900 (Tom Forth)

A history of dominance in English football (Reach)

The estimated amount spent on each Premier League squad at any given season (Reach)

Baby names in the UK - and template (Flourish)

The heaviest drinking countries in the world (Colin Angus)

It's all going very well

No-deal Brexit will hammer both UK and EU* (FT)

Could Brexit break the Union?* (FT)

Brexit: polls that show how Britain cannot make up its mind* (FT)

Hex map of UK Parliament Petitions: Revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU (ODI Leeds)

Petition Map: Revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU (Unboxed, viaElliott)

These maps of petition signatories show which bits of the country are most enthusiastic about scrapping Brexit (CityMetric)

Prime ministerial tenure (me for IfG)

Civil service staff numbers (IfG - and bonus chart from Johnny)

Satisfaction with the Government (Johnny for IfG)

Maps

U.S. population by state, 1790-1990 (Mike Bostock)

Rising Waters: See How Quickly the Midwest Flooded* (Washington Post)

Alternative Maps (Alasdair Rae)

The world's watersheds, mapped in gorgeous detail (Big Think, via Timand Elliott)

The shape of cities (National Geographic, via Fair Warning)

Critique

GLOBAL INEQUALITY: DO WE REALLY LIVE IN A ONE-HUMP WORLD? (Jason Hickel)

Here’s how NOT to use red in data visualization (Ann K. Emery/Francis Gagnon, via Marcus)

Book Preview: How Charts Lie, by Alberto Cairo (Junk Charts)

Everything else

Migration statistics: How many asylum seekers and refugees are there in the UK? (House of Commons Library, via Marcus)

Is The Russia Investigation Really Another Watergate? (FiveThirtyEight, via in other news)

One Way To Spot A Partisan Gerrymander (FiveThirtyEight)

The Fentanyl Failure* (Washington Post)

Sonic content

Chart doctor: the mysterious music of the yield curve* (FT, via Elliott - which reminded me of some old classics...)

Der Sound zum tiefen Fall der SPD (Berliner Morgenpost)

Sonification - 50 Years of Income Inequality (Naughty Step)

Data sonification lets you literally hear income inequality (Mic)

This is what the world map sounds like on the piano (@karaweeks_)

And finally...

Meta data

The only way is (the Centre for Data) Ethics

Investigation launched into potential for bias in algorithmic decision-making in society (DCMS)

Introduction to Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) (DCMS)

The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) 2019/ 20 Work Programme (DCMS)

The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) 2 year strategy (DCMS)

Framework Agreement between the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (DCMS)

From adverts to racial bias, we will take on the dangers of data* (Jeremy Wright, The Times)

Everything else

Data-sharing in government: why it’s time for a new social contract(Richard Pope)

The measured view (Tortoise)

How to apply to the Data Journalism Awards 2019 (Data Journalism Awards)

A role for art in policy-making? (Policy Lab)

The Government Is Using the Most Vulnerable People to Test Facial Recognition Software (Slate)

11 mistakes I have made (Matt Jukes)

The messy, cautionary tale of how Babylon disrupted the NHS (Wired)

Doctor App Babylon Health Offers Quick Appointments, But Grapples With Follow-Up Care For Mental Health (Forbes)

Why ignoring workers is a sure-fire way to create an AI divide (NS Tech)

‘Does GDS still have a role to play?’ – Cunnington faces MPs (Public Technology)

Government sets the Standard with 360Giving (360Giving)

Metadata: explaining the data (360Giving)

Jobs

JOB: Senior Data Journalist (Office for National Statistics)

JOBS: Data Scientists - SEO (Office for National Statistics)

JOB: PROJECT MANAGER – COMMITMENTS (Transparency International)

JOB: Principal - Policy & Advocacy, EU Region – Paris, Brussels (Luminate)

JOB: Developer (Open Data Services)

JOB: Colombia Program Manager (Open Contracting Partnership)

Of course, if you're looking for jobs like this, it's Matt Jukes' newsletter you want

And finally...

If you're uncertain what the process is from here, this flowchart should explain it. (@ExcelPope)

I think I've discovered something I shouldn't have (@shitshrimp, viaAron)

REMEMBERING GOVERNMENT.DIRECT – THE FIRST INTERACTIVE GREEN PAPER (Jerry Fishenden)

This animation of the Battle of France is from 1940. Pretty impressive animation for the time I must say... (via Simon Kuestenmacher)

Quiz: can you identify these world cities from their density maps alone?(The Guardian, via Katie)