Frank ⌁ @FrankElavsky Twitter profile | Pikagi

Pikagi

Frank ⌁

@FrankElavsky

5,581

Followers

2,346

Following

879

Media

16,171

Statuses

📊 data interaction anarchist doing accessibility @cmuhcii | disabled | working on a ttrpg | ⚑ anti-fascist | former: 🍎, Visa, etc | @frankelavsky @vis .social

He/him

https://t.co/9nr9FLfLna

Joined February 2016

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

Pinned Tweet

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

8 months

I'm happy to announce my latest project, Data Navigator! 🎉 I've been frustrated these past few years with all of the problems that visualization toolkits face making their visualizations more accessible. I built a tool that I hope will help. Read more:

Introducing Data Navigator

I’m happy to announce my latest project, Data Navigator! Making interactive data visualizations work with assistive technologies that navigate content is complex and difficult work. Data Navigator...

www.frank.computer

3

37

159

Last Seen Profiles

@chatilar

@PBleininge64863

@wendisha

@moustapha_adrii

@rails

@AilaGenung20793

@c6cevableue

@MotorOctane

@duncstrades

@price_sara93057

@kryll

@studios

@CadenMoody2

@collinmathilde

@HiddenFatesETH

@vlaamseoverheid

@conservatorsnet

@ParentsColbert

@erickarros

@Nilboggerino

@JustJoshin5392

@studentreasures

@tanijun31

@vdbaranetsky

@MalkowskiAneta

@sems_udg

@dieslexia

@Safa_Fanaian

@HellerAva

@kasitpirom

@rabibubu

@JoshFinney4

@cdot_ross

@BigBrother_BY

@MiguePe91119900

@MarkFergus76810

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

5 months

@TheWapplehouse their face immediately melting into dissociated disbelief after they shook hands, eyes glazing over as their mind considers every possible interpretation of that event where they aren't a complete and utter failure

Tweet media one

49

162

9K

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Data visualization cares disproportionately far too much about designing for colorblindness relative to other disabilities that are more common (visual impairments included). (A thread on disability, race, and patriarchy in data visualization.)

38

908

3K

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

10 months

@FractalEcho Wha.... whaa..... nooooo *evaporates*

1

4

3K

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

4 months

@clapifyoulikeme literally not even kidding but I think I know exactly who these people are and have for years, the quaker is actually the landlord and their "co-living situation" is just a boarding house

5

18

1K

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

@RATFCKR The game plays you, which makes it utterly genius. Think you're going to min-max for intellectual excellence? No. You're going to experience what everyone thinks of people who believe that is who they are supposed to be.

1

15

1K

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

Who does accessibility at NASA? I legit would love introductions. I have ideas and also just would love to chat. Their alt has been stupendous lately, to the degree I reckon there are content editors and SMEs involved in authoring it.

12

95

911

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Here it is: (Big news + thread) We have officially open-sourced our inclusive auditing system for data visualizations! 📊♿️ Introducing: 🎉Chartability!🎉 Chartability is a toolkit to help people make more accessible dataviz. You can learn more here:

13

230

887

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Resources we could use more of (1/?): Low vision (~30% of all people): - High contrast text - High contrast elements - Using texture, shape, units - Designing with zoom/magnification - Using Hierarchy and Focus - Using annotations or guides

7

117

776

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

1 year

The Nib, which brought us legendary pieces by so many creators (including this one below by @MattBors ), is closing down. Twitter posters in particular have so much to thank The Nib for. A serious cultural loss for the internet.

Tweet media one

@thenib

The Nib ✒️

1 year

After ten years of publishing, The Nib is going to close down this summer. The new issue of our magazine, the Future issue, will be our last. Read the full statement from our editor here:

180

732

2K

2

274

704

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

I can't believe game freak has me making a pokemon meme about weed cat. I am not apologizing to my followers or taking questions at this time. And yes, this has alt text!

Tweet media one

2

180

671

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

I recently shared my method for auditing the accessibility of data visualizations at a workshop in early Dec. It includes 10 critical tests that can be checked in 10 mins, plus 35 other tests. Is there any public interest for me to open source this? #dataVisualization #a11y

58

45

582

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

donut charts can be useful at times, when the data is appropriate

Tweet media one

13

123

550

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

6 years

I love the #rstats community. Someone is like, "oh hey peeps, I saw a big need for this mundane but difficult task that I infrequently do, so I created a package that will literally scrape the last bits of peanut butter out of the jar for you. It's called pbplyr." What a tribe.

6

64

435

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

I'm waiting for the renaissance of data visualization maximalism. I want the most gorgeous, bespoke visuals you've ever seen. Intricate stories that invite you to read slowly and savor them. Visuals so dense you can revisit them for new information each time.

19

28

415

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Resources we could use more of (3/?): Cognitive disability (~11% of all people in US): - Captions, summaries, clear titles, and plain text alternatives - Reducing visual complexity - Forgivable user interactions - Use of hierarchy - Assistive design (how-to-read guides, help)

1

43

408

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Today's the day I FINALLY announce: I have accepted an offer to start a PhD from my top choice! 🎉 @CarnegieMellon 's Human-Computer Interaction Institute ( @cmuhcii , part of @SCSatCMU ). My research with @cmudig will venture into the uncharted territory of disability + dataviz.

50

10

412

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

Hey #accessibility folks, the New York Times is hiring an Accessibility Visuals Editor! This is the first role I've ever seen explicitly devoted to accessibility and visuals like this. It seems like an opportunity to make a huge impact!

11

218

404

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Resources we could use more of (2/?): Functional/motor impairment (~13% of all people in US): - Keyboard interactivity/navigation - UI alternatives to in-chart controls (brushing, subselecting, etc) - Alternative data navigation schemes - Scrollytelling alternates

1

39

389

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Imagine Bweaking Nuwus sending you (a professional editor and reporter at the BBC) a correction and you realize they are right.

@BBCBweaking

Bweaking NuwuS

3 years

We emaiwed da BBC and they haz since cowwected theiw awticwe :-)

4

35

469

1

104

365

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

5 years

@dataandpolitics I always ask managers to tell me a story when they had to deal with a difficult employee and what they did, tell me a story of a time they had difficulty with their boss and what they did, how the work life balance is for their team, and the average tenure of employees under them

4

18

379

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Resources we could use more of (4/?): Attention deficit/hyperactive disorder (~9% of all people in US): - Clear, short text summaries - Object constancy - Motion design and animation - Use of breadcrumbs - Interaction history (with undo/redo functions)

6

43

380

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

4 years

@ibogost "I have a poor grasp of when brevity would be appropriate given the context at hand. In fact, I largely lack the ability to use brevity in any context at all." It would be better if the band's nickname was just "fuck Brevity" though.

4

8

357

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

4 months

@ak47eating @clapifyoulikeme They "solve things" the quaker way (egalitarian, communal, democratic) and talk about being "in community with" each other. But only the husband/wife actually get equity and capital from the property. Their strategy rebrands landlording and makes it hard to organize/unionize.

3

9

355

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

"What are examples of accessible, effective chart descriptions?" I get asked this question a LOT, so I am going to make a thread here to easily link to later. (This thread covers both simple and complex use-cases for human-authored descriptions.) Feel free to share/bookmark!

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

8

121

349

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Okay, gonna start a thread where I compare "cool concept stairs"/DIY stair fails to data visualization. You make fancy custom charts? Guess what? They are probably an accessibility liability. Use standards. See Fig. A (the alt on each image will be a bonus roast explanation):

Tweet media one

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Standards for accessibility exist! Techniques, suggestions, and examples exist! Learning it is the same as any other job. Buying a house that wasn't built to standard code is a huge liability. But the standards exist for a reason. Same with software. Use standards!

1

3

35

16

115

345

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

6 years

Woah. Just. Woah. This write-up by @ChristiansenJen is an absolute must-read if you are in the sciences, visualization, infographics, illustration, or even remotely care. I am just blown away with how thorough, thoughtful, and provoking this is.

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

4

117

337

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

4 years

Pick your own dataviz midlife crisis: - do algorithmic art - get a pen plotter - collect esoteric, historical dataviz books - participate in unpaid marketing for tableau every Monday, in hopes of making zen so the void in your heart can finally be filled

23

36

336

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

5 years

@dataandpolitics "How's the work-life balance on your team?" *laughter* (I have a series of questions I ask for catching red flags, and this one usually gets a diplomatic response at worst... but laughter? Immediate reject.)

2

12

301

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

So now what?? My solution is simple: Prioritize more discourse, research, guides, palettes, and tools that help with other functional disabilities and disabled communities. And please stop writing about colorblindness in visualization. We have enough of those blogs already!

1

8

261

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

As this new surge is happening with COVID I cannot stress enough that you MUST add alt text to your charts and graphs on here or so help me... It is literally a human rights issue when you fail to make COVID data accessible. I know some of you know you should too. JUST WRITE IT!

4

100

253

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Why do we have far more resources for dealing with colorblindness (<4% global rate) than low vision, which affects just over 30% of people? I'd reckon it all started in academia...

9

18

242

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

10 months

@FractalEcho I'm "possible ... human being"

1

0

222

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

Oh this brings me immense joy! Long before I was in data visualization, I was obsessed with the power I discovered in organizing sessions when we would start to map ourselves in a space. Mapping became a way to see how strong we are becoming. This is so powerful for solidarity.

@JortsTheCat

Jorts (and Jean)

2 years

If you’re as excited about union Starbucks as I am, here’s a map showing all the union campaigns! Find one near you, go give them love and support (also cash tips) 🔗MAP:

Tweet media one

32

544

3K

4

35

222

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

4 years

I just want to be clear here: not all data visualization is about "quick" or "fast" understanding. It should be about cutting through chaos and finding insight. Sometimes a good visualization is good because it encourages *close* reading! This means it might be a slow parse.

4

39

220

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

7 months

So IDEO largely built its marketing around the idea that The Designer is a higher-level thinker who can sift through all of the mass-produced junk that was rising up as a result of automation and find quality. This was rooted in racism and was doomed to fail... (thread)

@ctrlzee

Mark Wilson

7 months

Design giant @ideo cuts a third of staff and closes offices as the era of design thinking ends

30

110

605

4

39

206

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

I suppose now is as good of a time as any to announce that I have been hired by @Apple to do cool things! (I'm sure you could guess what.) I am working alongside some of my absolute favorite people ever, including @domoritz @ldgreef @clb5590 .

28

1

205

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Anyway, the list goes on. These are just a few! Black, disabled people in the south are ESPECIALLY (disproportionately) excluded from the design of equitable data systems! Include them! If data is really so important, why is it only accessible for a select few?

3

10

201

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Why does this matter? Because designers, scientists, and engineers in our field continue to produce palettes, guides, research, and tools for dealing with colorblindness when visualizing data. But where are tools and resources for all the other kinds of disabilities out there?!

2

3

199

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

~4.5% of people with northern European ancestry are colorblind. But less than half of a percent of women are. This means that nearly 8% of men from a northern European background have some form of colorblindness. *Colorblindness affects WHITE MEN the most.*

5

5

198

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

The state of web accessibility is pretty depressing. - Standards have been around 20+ years, but 97% of the top 1mil sites fail to meet them. - Standards are hard to learn but automating accessibility is terrible and makes it worse. - Standards are still the bare minimum. (cont)

6

65

188

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

6 years

@stereogum heck of a way to break up

0

1

170

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Okay this is getting a little traction already! So come to my talk on Accessibility and Data Visualization with @LareneLg and @liatrisbian at @OutlierConf !

@OutlierConf

OutlierConf

3 years

Meet our speaker, Frank Elavsky @FrankElavsky Talk: Are your data visualizations excluding people? Co-speakers: Sarah Fossheim @liatrisbian & Larene Le Gassick @LareneLg #Outlier2021 #dataviz Tickets: Speakers:

Tweet media one

3

17

61

5

12

194

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

5 years

@dataandpolitics To peers I would be working with I ask them to tell me a story when they had to deal with a difficult peer and what they did, what the work life balance is for the team, why they chose to work where they are at, and what the performance review process looks like.

1

3

184

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

6 years

As a data visualization professional (who happens to work in IT), I naturally wanted to see what brilliant "automated" charts our ticketing system reported by default. And... wow. Just... wow.

Tweet media one

19

36

184

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

OH! I wanted to share what I got my partner for Christmas: a commissioned drawing of our samoyed by @momodraws ! It features: Pizzelle "Pizza" the Samoyed surrounded by snowflake pizzelle cookies with a slice of pizza in her mouth. The greatest commission ever!

Tweet media one

2

12

180

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Do you make data visualizations? Are you a data scientist, researcher, analyst, dev, or designer? There is a great research project trying to discover how practitioners in our field work to make visualizations accessible (if at all). Please participate!

3

74

162

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Academic discourse on scientific visualization and color perception (alongside computer science) is decades old. I'm sure there is a paper waiting to be written about the demographics of peer reviewers, but I can guess they were mostly white men. Ask: WHO was this science for?

2

3

161

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

1 year

Okay, I want to be as gentle as possible with a review of this now-award-winning work but there are some serious problems we need to make sure we don't repeat. Our technical HCI class yesterday *just* talked about @elizejackson 's "disability dongle" and problematic access work.

@adildsw

Adil Rahman

1 year

🏆 So, our #CHI23 paper received a Best Paper Award, which is absolutely insane! @seongkook @aashikazim This work explores how hand auto-pilot can help enrich the interaction capabilities of individuals with visual impairment. Preprint:

4

13

98

5

21

163

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

Getting into accessibility can be so challenging (for technical/design/knowledge reasons), but few people talk about the fact that most of us are pissed off all the time too. We extrovert anger, even righteous anger. And I just want to let new folks to the field know this.

8

30

158

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

4 years

@Sblahov When the saran wrap sticks to itself but doesn't stick at all to my ceramic bowl

3

4

154

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

We tend to view accessibility as a *burden* and one that falls to some singular individual who must do the work alone. But communication is simply the responsibility of good science. And good science is a team effort. I'd love to know the story here.

2

19

148

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

It is time for data visualization to grow up. /thread

7

3

155

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

One of the biggest misconceptions about data visualizations is that they "speak for themselves." No they don't. We assign them meaning and value and rhetorical force.

3

22

150

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

6 years

Since my wage theft graphic exploded on reddit last night, I've gotten a lot of dms about what 'wage theft' is and what you can do if you feel you have been wronged. Here are a few resources (no means real legal advice). UCLA has a good primer:

Tweet media one

3

108

139

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

4 months

@clapifyoulikeme Okay.... deleted my previous thread about this because apparently there are at least 2 Quaker "coops" in the area (what??) and I absolutely don't want people to get the wrong idea about one if it isn't the one I'm thinking of. What if these people are cool? I dunno.

1

0

153

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

Either that, or the SMEs themselves are writing it and have received training or coaching. It's the sort of artifact where you witness it and know that there was collaborative work involved to make it happen. There's a story behind it I want to know.

2

1

139

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

Throwing this out into the universe: I want (at a bare minimum) to have the @DataVizSociety do a fireside chat with the NASA folks on accessibility in scientific communication. It's work that I want to celebrate but also think others could really learn from.

6

13

137

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

1 year

@hausofdecline That uncanny, smiling demon looks exactly like Knowles too.

1

0

129

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

While the origins of the imbalance here might be conjecture (because who has asked these questions yet?), it should not be a surprise that we have more resources on accessibility for a very specific disability of white men than virtually every other major disability.

4

7

139

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

Way too many people fundamentally misunderstand what accessibility standards are and what they do for design and development. Doing something non-standard is actually fine if you know what the standards are and why your design is actually more inclusive and does a better job.

4

26

137

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

It's official now! My first real paper publication! I did it🤠 I am also super excited for the (eventual) talk that folks will see for this too. Here's a teaser couple of slides, to get all you academics really worked up:

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

@EuroVisConf

EuroVis

2 years

📜 Announcing Chartability, an extensive set of heuristics for evaluating visualization accessibility! ✍️ @FrankElavsky , @clb5590 , @domoritz 👉 #FullPaper #EuroVis #EuroVis2022

Tweet media one

1

7

40

14

27

132

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

Unfortunately, I have yet to see even a single map or chart about the election results in France that have alt text. Many charts fail to have minimum contrast too. Everyone deserves access to this information! It's a human right, after all. I'll give 5 tips:

3

41

132

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

Well, well, well I just discovered a beta website from the US Gov for "Data Visualization Standards." Looks like it is structured similar to a design system. I wonder what the progress on this is?

3

17

130

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

6 years

As a data visualization professional I will argue that this is a valid use of a pie chart. Why? Because the big slices make the little slices look like insignificant, unreadable strands of data. Puny. This (of course) is the point.

@michaelbatnick

Michael Batnick

@michaelbatnick

6 years

The market cap of the top 5 S&P 500 companies: $4,095,058,706,432 The market cap of the bottom 282 S&P 500 companies: $4,092,769,755,136

Tweet media one

304

5K

10K

9

17

129

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

1 year

Academic research papers are: - Hard to learn how to write - Hard to write even when you know how to - Hard to read - Hard to share - High risk/expensive - Largely inaccessible to both the public and people with disabilities But entire careers depend on producing these!

3

12

124

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

It is exhausting that alt text doesn't download with images. So much careful labor is lost the second we share things. And on the internet? We share things a lot. What a shame that our file formats can't contain textual descriptions that persist in the same way the pixels do.

6

24

123

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

5 years

@dataandpolitics I don't always get the time to ask all of these, which can sometimes be a red flag too - if the interview is timed to only give me 5 minutes or less for questions of my own, then that can be a red flag too.

1

2

115

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Want to embark on a research path towards accessibility and data visualization? My #1 paper recommendation for students/learners in this space is @alanlundgard and @crystaljjlee 's "Sociotechnical Considerations." It's so informative and approachable!

Tweet media one

3

24

113

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

I was told not to celebrate when my paper got conditionally accepted (fair, since it is terrible). So here is my delayed celebratory tweet: I had my first paper (and as first author) officially (fully) accepted! 🎉 Expect a more official announcement with details in a month.

18

0

120

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

5 years

@dataandpolitics I view these questions as a bare minimum and typically have many more I wish to ask (based on the responses). I didn't really take this full approach until my latest job hunt and I'm glad I did.

7

1

107

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

4 years

@Sblahov By the way, it is incredibly hard to come up with ideas that aren't actually ableist... so many things are just legitimately straight up ableist.

1

2

113

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Accessible data visualization is going to have more in common with the humanities than a lot of tech + data companies will want to admit. This skillset is going to be sorely overlooked as this work becomes more and more prominent (already is overlooked, to be honest).

2

20

112

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

6 years

I'm sometimes asked, "why don't you consider yourself a data scientist?" While our skills are similar, our success looks different: Data scientists succeed when they have taught a machine to understand data with low error. #DataViz peeps succeed when they can do that with people

2

19

114

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

5 years

@kenklippenstein Have you seen the bug video though? At least we have the bug video...

3

5

103

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

@KellyLepo @NASAWebb @stsci @timrhueii Oh, so glad you found my post! Your team's work is just stupendous. I really feel like it is some of the best alt text I've seen for scientific graphics. There really was a celebration of the science in every one.

1

1

102

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

6 years

@thomasp85 @micahstubbs @albertocairo @ClausWilke @dataandme @tamaramunzner @Elijah_Meeks @visualisingdata @FILWD @eagereyes the future is here friends~

Tweet media one

2

26

102

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

4 years

One of the most beautiful things about Geralt's story is that it mirrors mine. My surgeries took *most* of my pain away and saved me from imminent death. But the experience I am left with is *still painful* and very much, 100%, still a disability.

@mustangsart

Mark Thompson 🏳️‍⚧️ @mustangsart.bsky.social

4 years

If I get one more angry gamer telling me "Fringilla Vigo healed Geralt actually" when she only managed to heal Geralt enough to alleviate the worst of the pain, I am going to lose my mind. It still doesn't detract from Geralt's experience of disability and the fact he's still-

18

57

1K

1

7

96

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

Lots of alt text authoring just isn't done at all. But when it is, it is either done by experts who don't adequately communicate clearly or by non SMEs who don't adequately communicate deeply.

1

2

95

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

4 years

@olde_fortran Warhammer 401k. Strategic, multi-unit portfolio management game.

3

6

96

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

11 months

Ah, it is hard to put into one short tweet how much I appreciate this article by @ChanceyFleet (so I'll do it in 3). Her framing around "image poverty" for blind and low vision folks is important to think about, and of course, do something about.

How tactile graphics can help end image poverty

Access to rich imagery shouldn’t be something that blind or low-vision people have to do without. These projects are helping.

www.technologyreview.com

1

41

97

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

🚨Oh my GOD it is FINALLY OUT so I can talk about it!🚨 They identified a pretty huge problem in most auto-/manual captioning and descriptions for charts: nobody asked what *kind* of information is actually important to convey. So much work failed to ask this basic question!

@illuminatedmfg

al

@illuminatedmfg

3 years

Descriptions, captions, and alt text can help make visualizations more accessible. But what should they say, or not say? My new paper with @arvindsatya1 contributes a model for evaluating textual descriptions of charts. Accessible HTML Paper: #a11y /Thread

5

71

248

1

28

93

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

5 years

Hi everyone. Big news: I am leaving academia. Northwestern University has been great. I couldn't have asked for a better staff position at a top tier research institution. But I have been picked up by Visa Inc, to help build out their data visualization. Wish me luck!

12

1

91

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

6 years

⬇️ Thread of thoughts on this topic ⬇️ I've taught #D3js to nearly 300 faculty, staff, and students at primarily the grad/PhD level across various workshops and bootcamps. Some key reasons behind why D3 is hard, I'll outline below (in case anyone is learning or curious)

@seecmb

Martin Burch

6 years

The trouble with D3 is to build a visualization you must also have a deep understanding of SVG, DOM, JavaScript, geometry, color spaces, data structures, the standard model, and quantum physics

22

69

269

1

20

92

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

Can someone please tell me why it is a ubiquitous design for pasted text to retain its original formatting by default? Who came up with this? What were they solving? I want names. I promise I just want to talk.

6

7

84

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

2 years

Someone asked me once, "what would make data visualization work more accessible for someone with chronic illness, like yours?" And guess what? The answer isn't technical lmao. My answer is being free to work in my own time and place, strong healthcare, fair pay.

3

11

85

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

One of the biggest problems in data visualization is that the practitioner experts in this field still expect every graphic to be a hand-crafted masterpiece by a chef who intimately understands every ingredient. A grammar is a useful set of ingredients. But people need recipes.

6

6

91

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

As a disabled person, I did not "chase my dreams" I chased employer-provided healthcare instead. Inspirations like mine die because disabled people don't have their needs met. The effects of universal healthcare would be massive. It would bring a renaissance.

2

18

88

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

1 year

Every now and then I go back to this series on accessible color because someone brings it up (or mentions it was helpful). It means so much to me to hear from members of the community that came across these notebooks and it had an impact in their work.

Tweet card media

Introduction to Accessible Contrast and Color for Data Visualization

This notebook serves as a general introduction to the topic of contrast and color use in data visualization as well as a landing page for all the notebooks in this series. This series is part of a...

observablehq.com

2

24

87

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Exhausting. While this might be a cause for celebration for some, my preliminary audit shows that this is yet again another tool for easily creating inaccessible data experiences. No SR or keyboard access, no semantic control of marks or their relationship to one another, etc

@mbostock

Mike Bostock

3 years

Announcing a new open-source JavaScript library for exploratory data visualization: Observable Plot!

13

326

1K

3

9

85

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

7 months

My favorite paper of the year just dropped at ASSETS: "Cripping Data Visualizations." An incredible piece that frames and re-orients what accessibility is and should be. A great paper to read for accessibility, even if you aren't into visualization.

1

24

99

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Eyyyy our team has officially been renamed from "Data Visualization Team" to "Data Experience Team" - more inclusive language for the work that we actually do: Making data interfaces and systems that work for more than just the eyes. Disability inclusion is good.

2

8

81

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

10 months

Lots of good points have been made already but I want to add that COVID was a mass-disabling event. There *are* a lot more disabled people now than pre-pandemic.

@DisabilityStor1

Aparna Nair

@DisabilityStor1

10 months

All this "the number of disabled students has risen, so it has to be cons" discourse is partly because some people cannot imagine anything other than someone hiding their disabled status in shame and secrecy for all of eternity. They're horrified by the thought of anything else.

10

375

2K

1

21

82

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

4 months

@mardybumnn @ak47eating @clapifyoulikeme yeah

1

0

81

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

I cannot stress enough how people's mental model of design in data visualization needs to mature beyond the expectation that one experience is the end result. For example, EVERY time I bring up textures on bars, someone crawls from the depths to tell me they hate them.

3

8

77

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

1 year

Hey, not to potentially beat @DataVizSociety to a #GAAD2023 announcement, but the next issue of the magnificent Nightingale Magazine will have a 12 page section on accessibility and visualization, featuring myself, @tanner_jaime , @johnycassidy and more!

Tweet media one

1

24

80

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

4 years

@Interior @KatmaiNPS I would like to nominate this dog please

Tweet media one

1

0

71

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

1 year

@poisonjr Had a little autism hyperfocus with this about 1.5 years ago and feel like I won:

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

3 years

Okay because I hyperfixated on this, I gave it some more attempts... these are all ONE SYLLABLE words with a 100+ score. Whew. Very, very hard!

Tweet media one

0

1

28

3

2

74

@FrankElavsky

Frank ⌁

4 months

@ditz_carlton literally not even kidding but I think I know exactly who these people are and have for years, the quaker is actually the landlord and their co-living situation is just a boarding house

3

0

74