Whew!

I just recorded my first-ever virtual seminar today! Oh my goodness. It was so strange speaking to an empty room. I drew a picture of some faces and hung it up opposite me, along with a sign bearing the words "SLOW DOWN."

I think this helped.

The seminar is on data visualization, and can be purchased from the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (APRA) website.

I am a bit nervous about listening to it, but I am determined to cringe through every "um" and learn some lessons so I can improve my speaking abilities.

UPDATE: 5/15/2011 I still haven't watched it! But I'm still planning to.

Curious About the Invention of the Pie Chart?

It was in 1801, by William Playfair, who also invented the bar chart and line graphs of economic data.

Check out “Milestones in the History of Thematic Cartography, Statistical Graphics, and Data Visualization,” an awesomely cross-referenced website by Michael Friendly and Daniel J. Denis.

I also recommend Edward Tufte's The Visual Display of Quantitative Information for historical perspective -- and gorgeous data graphics.

OMG, I'm in HD -- The Wheel Airs Thursday

My Wheel of Fortune episode is finally airing this Thursday, March 4th. Check your local listing. For Portlanders, a small article about me will be in the Portland Tribune on Thursday as well.

In My Defense, We Were in a Basement

I promised to post some gems live from the CASE Conference, and I totally FAILed. (Being in a basement with no cell reception didn't help either.)

In general, I've been struggling to keep up with this blog lately. One of my best friends just sent me an email chastising me for not responding to my comments in a timely manner!

So, here's resolving to do better. I will get some of what I learned at CASE up very soon, I promise. Two of my favorite sessions involved University of Washington Medicine's qualification program, and University of Saskatchewan's "agile I.T." More on that to come as soon as I get my notes and some time for blogging in the same place.