It is a complex tension, isn’t it?

July 15, 2019 1:10 PM

"If you conduct a quick internet search on “history of data visualization,” you’ll nearly always see Florence Nightingale included in the annals of history. Why? It’s not like a Nightingale Rose chart is easy to read, or a cinch to make, or even all that common. One clue to the answer lies in the fact that she is most often the only woman on such lists." Beyond Nightingale: Being a Woman in Data Visualization
posted by everybody had matching towels (7 comments total)

(Apparently Medium is requiring sign-ins for some articles now? I was able to read it but only after opening it in private browsing mode on FF, in case others are running into the same issue and don't want to sign up for yet another account.)
posted by Aleyn at 1:24 PM on July 15, 2019

Sigh. That anecdote about the diversity rider is just so aggravating. She tried to do the right thing, but instead of having more women and minorities on the panel, now there's one less because even she doesn't get to be there.
posted by jacquilynne at 2:47 PM on July 15, 2019 [3 favorites]

From the same author- An incomplete list of females in data visualization.
posted by rockindata at 5:58 PM on July 15, 2019

The bottom of the article had links to algorithmically similar essays (I hope, I hope it wasn't a person who made the choice). They all were about Florence Nightingale's visualization, one hailing her as a design hero. This kind of feels like it's proving the author's point.

I found those in a attempt to find the comments out of morbid curiosity. I'm not sure whether finding a bunch of white cis dudes ranting would have been better or worse.
posted by Hactar at 6:40 PM on July 15, 2019

Actually the links at the bottom are to other recent articles on the publication, which is called Nightingale. It was recently named that, so there were a few pieces published that discussed her work.

(But I very much agree that Evergreen's point is very powerful.)
posted by entropone at 6:56 PM on July 15, 2019

Nightingale is a new publication from the Data Visualization Society that launched today. Those other articles linked to at the bottom are a couple of the other articles published today.
posted by noneuclidean at 6:57 PM on July 15, 2019 [1 favorite]

Many of my career-successful female friends also share Ms. Evergreen's frustration at tokenism. Tokenism makes it difficult to discern whether one is simply a "token" minority to appease those who are primarily concerned with identity, or actually achieving because of their own accomplishments.

For the most part, we blame this trouble on diversity / inclusion initiatives and the promotion of oppressor / oppressed narratives -- without these, there wouldn't be any pressure to tokenize at all. Here, I'm referring to a few people I know in positions of authority and managerial responsibility within the private sector.

Unpopular opinion puffin, I know, but offered as an honest, though anecdotal, piece of information of what things look like from the "other side of the aisle."
posted by phenylphenol at 5:32 PM on July 17, 2019