Monthly theme - November 2024 - Data Visualisation

Published on November 1, 2024

This November's theme in The Data Lab Community is 'Data Visualisation'. 

Data visualisation plays a vital role in today’s data-driven world by transforming complex datasets into intuitive, visual formats that allow a message or story to be conveyed in an easy to understand way. Data visualisation enables quicker insights and informed decisions in areas such as business, healthcare, education, public policy and so much more. By highlighting trends and patterns, data visualisation fosters better communication and comprehension across teams. 

Within The Data Lab Community, data visualisation has been an ever-popular topic amongst members which is why we are excited to be discussing this area once more. If you are keen to get involved, make sure to check out the activities going on throughout November. We’ve got lots in store for you, so mark the dates in your calendar and get involved!

As always, we're keen to hear from members of the community with interest or expertise in this area - so please share any blogs, resources and/or interesting content that you have that's related to the theme! 

Events 🎟️

In this webinar, Cara Thompson will share practical tips she has picked up in her work as a data visualisation consultant, to give you confidence selecting the right type of graph, styling it so that the story stands out, and annotating it in such a way that the key information is where it needs to be. The end result? A graph that is easy to understand, nice to look at, and that helps people remember the important bits of your story.

Join Georges Corbineau as he takes you through the various skills that you may need to excel as a data visualisation practitioner. We’ll cover a range of tools that you could end up using if you decide to go down this path, including Tableau, PowerBI, R, Python, ArcGis, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, D3 and many more! 

Join us at Bayes Centre in Edinburgh for a deep dive into data visualisation techniques with the 2024 Tableau Iron Viz competition champion, Chris Westlake! 

At this event, Chris will build a live data visualisation in front of our very eyes whilst talking through the rationale for his decision making, explaining his choice of visualisation techniques and answering any questions along the way. 

Iron Viz is the world’s largest data visualisation competition, so we are thrilled to welcome Chris to share the insights and expertise that not only got him to the final but secured his spot as 2024 champion!

Other news

A Vision For Public Sector Data in Scotland

October 8, 2024
Public sector data is a vital component in making sure that services for the people of Scotland are delivered efficiently and effectively. Despite a growing awareness of the power of data, feedback from data leaders in public services shows that they can face difficulties when trying to influence colleagues and senior leaders. It was with this issue in mind that the Scottish Government, NHS Nation

Realising the Vision for Public Sector Data

December 17, 2024
Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and reflect on the draft vision of public sector data in the 6 week 'challenge' phase. We have gained lots of rich, thoughtful and considered feedback and really appreciate everyone's input to this process.The Data Lab, along with Scottish Government and NHS National Services Scotland as sponsors of this process continue to work together as we move i