Avery Dionysius Mathews

Out of all the classes I’ve taken this semester, this is definitely the one that I have learned the most practical knowledge practical knowledge from. I didn’t know much about using Excel previously, so I’m glad we learned how to use it because it’s pretty much universally useful. Then other skills like the ability to use Tableau only further my…[Read more]

I use Spotify every day. If I were to represent Spotify’s data with a spread sheet, I would give each song a row, and then put information like artist, album, song length, if it’s in one of my playlists and which if it is. I might also use rows to include more background information like producers and composers who were involved if that much…[Read more]

This actually caught my eye more than others because the data visualization is very good. This is a map of where flu symptoms occur throughout Australia. It was designed to show researchers when flu seasons begin by region. It’s a really effective because you can mouse over each place to see how many people are reporting flu and what symptoms they…[Read more]

A KPI that I use in my life is setting limits to the periods that I work on single things. I try to not work on a single assignment or project for more than a few hours at a time to keep my mind clear. It’s also measurable and achievable because I can keep track of how much time I’ve spent on one thing and take breaks when appropriate, relevant to…[Read more]

I haven’t done very much work with Excel so I actually haven’t done any of the things listen in the article. I have made mistakes like forgetting to save a document and then losing it, but that’s not nearly as specific as the mistakes in the article. I think any mistake that permanently deletes files is the most harmful mistake because at least if…[Read more]

I chose an article that predicts the likelihood of each baseball team that is participating in the post season this year. The article outdated now because it’s a week old but I chose it out of spite because they gave the Giants a 3% chance of winning the world series. The article ranks the teams with a scoring system used by fivethirtyeight that…[Read more]

I think that the most important principle in the article is “respond.” You can put as much effort as you want into combing through data to find the best sources, simplifying the visualizations to make them digestible, and any other aspect of creating data visualizations – but data and the information shown in the visualization is pointless in a…[Read more]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/01/10/nyregion/20100110-netflix-map.html

I think one of the most important parts of using data to make decisions is looking at present data comprehensively. I say that because I know that I don’t always do that. As a consumer I feel quite a bit of brand loyalty. For example, when it comes to technology, I tend to prefer brands like Samsung and Lenovo over most others and I will sometimes…[Read more]

I found an article called “St. Louis Is the New Startup Frontier” on fivethirtyeight.com. The article details how in the past few years, St. Louis has become a major center for startups and new entrepreneurship. This is because various investors have put a great deal of effort into making the city, among numerous Midwestern cities, a safe and…[Read more]

I found a data set called “Historic Streets” that catalogues and maps historic street in Philadelphia at http://www.opendataphilly.org under the “Planning/Zoning” section.
It’s interesting to me because it shows the areas because I don’t know that much about Philadelphia’s history because I’m not from here. I found it odd that most of the…[Read more]

Often I hear people say “grades aren’t everything” in regards to being in college and finding work after graduation. Obviously that’s true to a certain degree, but how true is it? I’ve met plenty of people who performed quite well in college and struggled after graduation, as well as people who managed just middling grades and yet ultimately ended…[Read more]