The 2013 winners of the Information is Beautiful Awards, a data journalism course in China, a new data visualization tool from South-America, health conditions around the world, the growth of Big Data business, the world linguistic situation, a Twitter list of data visualization experts.

Julio Aguiar – Corcovado

Tools, Events, Courses

We were all waiting for them and now here they are: ladies, gentlemen and data lovers from all the world, please let me invite you to see the winners of the Information is Beautiful Awards 2013, set up by David McCandless. Congratulations!

The international NGO IREX recently announced the launch of China by the Numbers Data Journalism Project. The 100 journalists participating in the course will be provided with training sessions on the tools and skills used in the field and will produce a Chinese Data Journalism Manual to be used as future learning resource.

A few days ago, the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais officially set up a new data visualization tool for its citizens with the aim to increase transparency and data understanding. DataViva uses more than 100 million interactive graphics to display the structure and the opportunities of Minas Gerais economy.

Data Stories

If you need a good overview on the positive effects of Big Data on companies, Siraj Datoo’s article on the Guardian may help you get an idea on how fast the growth of investments on data analysis is, especially of those coming from venture capitalists.

Health conditions are affected by a number of different factors. Financial Times Data Blogs shows how the ranking position of States changes depending on the variable taken into account to measure individuals’ life quality.

The number of page views or that of posts published: how do you measure the attractiveness of your website or your social media profile? Which is the best way to know if people want to come back and follow your site? Maybe Pete Davies’s point of view on metrics that count would help you choose the right data!

The New York Times will reshape its website and locate it exactly “at the nexus of data and news,” as the executive director Jill Abramson put in Marc Tracy’s article published on The New Republic.

Data Sources

Have you ever wondered how many languages there are in the world? Which are the most spoken ones, and how many people speak them? How many words of a foreign language have been adopted by others? The After Babylon project from the Puff Puff Team has all the answers you need.

If you have a Twitter account and you are wondering if you are following all the most important data visualization experts, this list from Information Management may help you find the one you were looking for.

If you are self-taught when it comes to data journalism or data visualization, you are always looking for free on-line tutorials. Don’t forget to have a look at those of Fusion Charts which will introduce you to many kinds of graphs, from heat maps to waterfall charts.