The PolicyViz Podcast

I talk with Taifa Smith Butler, president of Dēmos, about how data and research can help communities build economic and political power. We explore how Dēmos works with grassroots partners to shape research questions, put economic indicators in context, and make policy information useful to the people affected by it. Taifa explains why measuring impact means looking beyond page views to the conversations, advocacy, and decisions that research supports. We also discuss the risks of losing access to federal data and what Dēmos learned when communities asked for something simpler than its interactive Power Scorecard. Throughout our conversation, we return to the work of connecting rigorous analysis with plain language, lived experience, and practical tools for change.Subscribe to this podcast. Follow this show and everything dataviz on Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack, X, and YouTube. Check out the PolicyViz website to learn more about data and data visualization.Questions? Comments? Pitch ideas? Email me at: [email protected] by Zencastr where you can record, transcribe, edit, and automatically publish your meetings, podcasts, and more.

In this My Favorite Graphs episode, I revisit the New York Times’ 2012 election visualization, 512 Paths to the White House, by Mike Bostock and Shan Carter. I walk through how its branching diagram shows the combinations of competitive states that could lead Barack Obama or Mitt Romney to victory. I explain how simple state-by-state toggles let readers test their own expectations and explore the remaining possibilities. I discuss the vertical layout, highlighting, and changing display as states are selected. What I love most is how the interaction lets each reader personalize the experience of exploring the data.Explore 512 Paths to the White House.Subscribe to this podcast. Follow this show and everything dataviz on Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack, X, and YouTube. Check out the PolicyViz website to learn more about data and data visualization.Questions? Comments? Pitch ideas? Email me at: [email protected] by Zencastr where you can record, transcribe, edit, and automatically publish your meetings, podcasts, and more.

In this episode, I talk with David Watters about making everyday work easier for nonprofits. We explore how side spreadsheets, repetitive reporting, and reliance on a few go-to people can hide the true cost of getting things done. David explains how he identifies a useful first improvement by looking at how often a problem occurs, how much friction it creates, and what it prevents people from doing. We also discuss when straightforward automation is enough and where AI can help small teams with grant writing and qualitative data analysis. Throughout our conversation, we focus on giving people more time for the work they care about and building momentum through small, visible improvements.Subscribe to this podcast. Follow this show and everything dataviz on Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack, X, and YouTube. Check out the PolicyViz website to learn more about data and data visualization.Questions? Comments? Pitch ideas? Email me at: [email protected] by Zencastr where you can record, transcribe, edit, and automatically publish your meetings, podcasts, and more.

In this My Favorite Graphs episode, I revisit Hannah Fairfield’s 2012 New York Times graphic, Driving Safety, in Fits and Starts. I explain how its connected scatter plot pairs vehicle miles driven per capita with auto fatalities per 100,000 people, connecting each year to reveal changes over time. I walk through the chart’s shifts and loops, including the energy crises of the 1970s. I discuss why connected scatter plots can be difficult to read and what makes this example work so well. Most of all, I highlight how Fairfield combines the story, annotations, and miniature highlighted charts to explain both the data and how to read the graphic.Please note, I mistakenly said the live podcast at Cluster is on Thursday, but it's actually on Wednesday, November 11! I hope you can join me!Chart: Driving Safety, in Fits and StartsSubscribe to this podcast. Follow this show and everything dataviz on Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack, X, and YouTube. Check out the PolicyViz website to learn more about data and data visualization.Questions? Comments? Pitch ideas? Email me at: [email protected] by Zencastr where you can record, transcribe, edit, and automatically publish your meetings, podcasts, and more.

In this week’s episode of the show, I talk with Mike "SullyDawg" Sullivan, the viral creator behind the cup pyramid videos that turn massive federal budget numbers into something you can actually see. Mike spent decades as a teacher and coach before a bike ride inspired his first video stacking Solo cups to explain government spending — and it took off almost overnight. We dig into why three-dimensional scale succeeds where bar charts and line graphs fail, how he sources and cross-checks the data behind every video, and the four-part formula he swears by: topic, data, energy, and visual. Mike also opens up about the physical work of stacking thousands of cups in his garage, the unpredictable swings of the social media algorithms, and what’s next for his growing platform. It’s a fun, thoughtful conversation about making enormous numbers finally make sense.Subscribe to this podcast. Follow this show and everything dataviz on Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack, X, and YouTube. Check out the PolicyViz websiteto learn more about data and data visualization.Questions? Comments? Pitch ideas? Email me at: [email protected] by Zencastr where you can record, transcribe, edit, and automatically publish your meetings, podcasts, and more.

In this My Favorite Graphs episode, I revisit a 2016 New York Times visualization comparing the convention speeches of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. I explain why highlighting phrases across miniature pages can reveal themes in qualitative data that word counts and bar charts can miss. I share how I have used a simple version of this technique in my own work and discuss tools for creating similar views. Alicia contributes a voice note about the project's development, including the highlighted Google Docs behind the finished graphics. I also discuss how pairing an overview with example quotes can help readers see the broader context of an interview, focus group, or speech.Subscribe to this podcast. Follow this show and everything dataviz on Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack, X, and YouTube. Check out the PolicyViz website to learn more about data and data visualization.Questions? Comments? Pitch ideas? Email me at: [email protected] by Zencastr where you can record, transcribe, edit, and automatically publish your meetings, podcasts, and more.

Lauren Klein joins me to talk about her new book, Data by Design, co-authored with a team of student collaborators. Over more than a decade of work, Lauren set out to place the history of data visualization in its full historical and political context, going well beyond the familiar “great men” narrative of Playfair and Snow. We talk about how she chose which historical visualizations to feature and redesign, the ethical questions that come up when working with data about the transatlantic slave trade and Indigenous mapping, and what it actually took to track down high-resolution scans of centuries-old charts. Lauren also shares what she wants readers, especially working data visualization designers, to take away: that visualization is only as powerful as how, and by whom, it's put to use.Subscribe to this podcast. Follow this show and everything dataviz on Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack, X, and YouTube. Check out the PolicyViz websiteto learn more about data and data visualization.Questions? Comments? Pitch ideas? Email me at: [email protected] by Zencastr where you can record, transcribe, edit, and automatically publish your meetings, podcasts, and more.

This week I kick off a new series on the show: My Favorite Graphs. I’m going to walk through the projects that shaped how I think about data visualization, data communication, and data storytelling. I'm starting with the Guardian's “Bussed Out: How America Moves Its Homeless,” published in December 2017, an 18-month investigation into the one-way bus tickets that US cities hand out to homeless people. There’s a special treat at the end too!My Favorite Graph: Bussed OutSubscribe to this podcast. Follow this show and everything dataviz on Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack, X, and YouTube. Check out the PolicyViz websiteto learn more about data and data visualization.Questions? Comments? Pitch ideas? Email me at: [email protected] by Zencastr where you can record, transcribe, edit, and automatically publish your meetings, podcasts, and more.

Lauren Schwabish, a speech-language pathologist and founder of Neuro Speech Services, joins a conversation about communication after neurological injury. They explore person-centered care, plain language, teach-back, aphasia-friendly research, assistive technology, and accessibility beyond color blindness. The discussion also connects personalized communication tools with clearer dashboards, reports, and data visualizations.

Welcome back to Season 13 of the PolicyViz Podcast! In this quick solo kickoff, I walk you through everything I have planned this season, from a full episode on accessibility in data communication to a brand-new weekly series where I talk through some of my favorite data visualizations from the last 15 years. I'll also tell you about my very first live podcast recording, happening in November in Boston as part of the IEEE VIS Conference and the new Cluster Practitioner Summit I'm co-organizing. Along the way I'll be expanding my YouTube content around Flourish, Excel, and PowerPoint, including how I'm using AI tools like Claude and Copilot in my own workflow. It's shaping up to be a busy, lucky Season 13, and I'm so glad you're along for the ride.Subscribe to this podcast. Follow this show and everything dataviz on Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack, X, and YouTube. Check out the PolicyViz websiteto learn more about data and data visualization.Questions? Comments? Pitch ideas? Email me at: [email protected] by Zencastr where you can record, transcribe, edit, and automatically publish your meetings, podcasts, and more.