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Data Vis Dispatch
October 19th, 2021

Data Vis Dispatch,
October 19

The best of last week’s big and small data visualizations

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Rose Mintzer-Sweeney

Welcome back to the 18th edition of Data Vis Dispatch! Every week, we’ll be publishing a collection of the best small and large data visualizations we find, especially from news organizations — to celebrate data journalism, data visualization, simple charts, elaborate maps, and their creators.

Recurring topics this week include inflation, fossil fuels, and housing.

The breakout topic of the week was COVID-era inflation — what’s been driving it, how much we should worry about it, and how it relates to the ongoing pandemic:

The Washington Post: Inflation in the economy today is different. Here are four charts that can explain why, October 14
The Economist: What’s wrong with America’s consumer-price index?, October 13
The Washington Post: The permanently temporary 2021 economy, in charts, October 16

The vaccine rollout remains a hot topic:

Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Auch unter reicheren Ländern gibt es massive Unterschiede beim Impffortschritt – und alles Weitere zum Coronavirus weltweit in 14 Grafiken, October 14
Axios: COVID-19 booster shots overtake first doses in the U.S., October 13
The San Francisco Chronicle: Inmates are more vaccinated against COVID-19 than guards at nearly every prison in California, October 15

In fact, there’s not many areas of life that the pandemic hasn’t touched, from supply chains to social gatherings to long-term public health progress:

Financial Times: The supply chain crisis and US ports: ‘Disruption on top of disruption’, October 14
Financial Times: UK falls behind European peers in battle against Covid ahead of winter, October 16
Agence France-Presse: “Les décès liés à la tuberculose sont repartis à la hausse pour la première fois en plus de dix ans. La perturbation des services de santé due au Covid a anéanti des années de lutte contre cette maladie, selon la @WHO. Par @RomainAllmnt et @sophie_ramis,” October 14 (Tweet)

As the weather turns, Europe is getting nervous about record-high gas prices:

Átlátszó: Elszabadult Európában a gáz ára, October 14
De Tijd: België kan maar 12 dagen voort op eigen gasreserves, October 13

Although, speaking of fossil fuels… check out these charts and maps:

Straits Times: Slowing Down CO2, October 18
The Guardian: UK, US, China: how the world’s carbon ‘centre of gravity’ moved over 200 years, October 13
The Guardian: The climate disaster is here, October 14

In electoral politics, this week gave us an opposition primary in Hungary, the identities and salaries of new German representatives, and a unique proposal for better voter representation in the U.S. Senate:

Átlátszó: A 2021-es ellenzéki előválasztás eredményei a második fordulóban, October 17
Berliner Morgenpost: Das ist das neue Abgeordnetenhaus, October 14
Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Der Deutsche Bundestag könnte bald eine Milliarde Euro kosten – und damit doppelt so viel wie im Jahr 2005, October 17
The Economist: The pivotal state for making America’s Senate more proportional is Alaska, October 16

Politics isn’t all about elections though — we also saw vis on lobbying, information control, and even forced disappearances:

ABC News Australia: Hitting the Jackpot, October 13
The Economist: Internet shutdowns have become a weapon of repressive regimes, October 15
Texty: Білі плями памʼяті. Як українці шукають правду про репресованих родичів, October 18

These charts looked at inequality in housing costs:

Bloomberg: How a $2 Million Condo in Brooklyn Ends Up With a $157 Tax Bill, October 14
La Vanguardia: Inquilinos asfixiados: uno de cada cuatro tienen dificultades para pagar el alquiler, October 16

Other charts ranged from the serious (sexism in the workplace) to the obscure (radio spectrum regulation) to the lightweight (“Squid Game” viewership):

The New York Times: This Is How Everyday Sexism Could Stop You From Getting That Promotion, October 14
Bloomberg: NYC Cops Log Millions of Overtime Hours. New Yorkers Don’t Feel Safer, October 13
Bloomberg: Can China’s Prosperity Promise Fix Real Problems?, October 13
Reuters: 5G Is Here, Sorta, October 14
USA Today: An explosion 35 years in the making: The astronomical rise of pay for college football coaches, October 14
FlowingData: How the Longest Running Shows Rated Over Episodes, October 15
The Economist: “Squid Game” is only the latest Netflix hit to break the language barrier, October 15

Finally, let’s end with two maps of certain buildings in Spain:

El Confidencial: La colada se ralentiza tras sepultar un supermercado y un campo de fútbol, October 15
El Confidencial: Todos los castillos de España, October 13

What else we found interesting

Mark Richardson: “always been something fascinating about Jonathan Richman’s teenaged Velvet Underground fandom. thinking about this drawing he made for an article in a fanzine in 1968, when he was 17, predicting their trajectory,” October 17 (Tweet)
Michael Friendly: “Old hard drives sometimes contain preserved treasures. I came across this 1885 paper by Emil Levasseur from the Silver Jubilee of the Statistical Society of London. This figure uses proportional rectangles to compare the areas & populations of the ‘principle states of the world,'” October 13 (Tweet)
Mapmaker: “the world of borders,” October 13 (Tweet)
xkcd: Flag Map Sabotage, October 13

Help us make this dispatch better! We’d love to hear which newsletters, blogs, or social media accounts we need to follow to learn about interesting projects, especially from less-covered parts of the world (Asia, South America, Africa). Write us at hello@datawrapper.de or leave a comment below.

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Rose Mintzer-Sweeney
(she/her, @rosemintzers) is a data vis writer on Datawrapper's communications team. She likes words, numbers, pictures, and all possible combinations of the same. Rose lives in Berlin.

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