I’m very happy to announce details of a newsletter that I will be launching in February.
The Visualising Data Newsletter will chronicle the most insightful and delightful data visualisation content every month, sent straight to your inbox.
You can subscribe now or read on to discover more details about the motivation and intention behind this newsletter.
WHY LAUNCH A NEWSLETTER?
For many years Twitter was the social media platform for the data visualisation community. Despite its many horrible flaws, thankfully largely outside this bubble, it offered a vibrant, collegial, and important place for sharing new work, new articles, holding discussions, finding new people, sourcing new examples. It was also a place for people outside of the data visualisation field to find the people in the data visualisation field.
For over a decade, on my blog, I used to publish monthly round-ups of the best data visualisation content I had encountered in the previous month. Where once all this new data visualisation material could primarily be sourced from a relatively concentrated list of website RSS feeds (ask your parents), Twitter came along and helpfully offered a reliable single platform to find it all. It also helped to widen the reach of the radar, unearthing new people and new organisations posting valuable work.
The sinking of Twitter’s functional (and moral) appeal since 27th October 2022 has disrupted and fragmented the community. Conversations and connections have been blunted. News of new work is back to being scattered across the roster of different social media platforms. I’m sure things will settle down again in due course but for now its all a bit messy.
Though I found the workload involved in compiling the monthly ‘Best ofs’ postings became too much to maintain alongside all my other work commitments, since having stopped doing them in 2022 I received a lot of messages from people who miss them. I perhaps under-appreciated their perceived value for others, and for myself, feeling like I have a really good handle on what’s going on.
That’s why I’m looking to launch a newsletter.
Firstly, to resurrect the notion of sharing a monthly round-up chronicling the latest notable work in this field. It can be hard to stay current in data viz, with so much excellent work being published in so many different places. Through this newsletter I’ll share the results of my constant monitoring of the best new stuff from across the field.
Secondly, through the mechanics of an emailed newsletter, I am looking to publish these round-ups directly to readers, rather than have readers foraging around different platforms to find them. Carefully curated collections of content will be sent straight to your inbox.
WHAT CAN I EXPECT FROM THIS NEWSLETTER?
Data visualisation is everywhere, let me help you see it.
Subscribe to the Visualising Data Newsletter to stay current in data viz. That’s the proposition.
Whether you are in the data viz business, adjacent to it, or completely new to this subject, I’m aiming to elevate your understanding of what’s going on with a monthly chronicle of the most insightful and delightful data visualisation content. I’ll look to showcase the freshest designs and compelling articles from the field. I’ll share relevant developments in technologies and useful learning resources. If its good, if its interesting, or thought-provoking, I’ll pass it on.
New doesn’t always mean brand new. I’ve been gathering resources and posting for nearly 15 years. Some things are of timeless value, but there’s often a sense that you can only share it when its brand new. With so many new people now interested in this subject I will also occasionally open the vault, dig out then dust off useful references from down the years.
The newsletter will include the occasional item of news or announcements from me and about my work, such as new training courses, new podcast episodes, latest or upcoming appearances. I’ll also maybe throw in some of the #LittleVis that I come across.
I’m sure it will take a few monthly rounds for me to settle into this new curating rhythm as well as a different style of publishing. I will especially need a bit of time – and feedback – to find the right amount of content to include for people to consume each month. I’m hopeful it will prove to be a valuable service for many of you out there, just bear with me as I find my groove.
WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO KNOW?
Timing – The first newsletter will be published around the third week in February and similarly thereafter each month. That will be enough time to gather and reflect on what’s worth sharing from the previous month and then time to curate and publish it. I won’t commit to a fixed date each month because that is a promise my work schedule won’t allow me to keep.
Newsletter provider – I’ve chosen to use ConvertKit for my newsletter platform, which manages subscriptions and the design of all forms and postings.
Data protection – In choosing to sign-up for a monthly newsletter subscription you are signing up for a monthly newsletter subscription. That’s all. Your email and name details will be used only for this purpose, only for this frequency of messaging, and nothing else, as outlined in my privacy policy.
Contributions – I always appreciated the desire behind people sharing their own work for possible inclusion in the ‘best ofs’ but I always wanted to treat those curating exercises as being purely shaped by the best, most interesting, most thought-provoking I encountered. That approach and intention will continue with this newsletter.
OK, I’M CONVINCED, HOW DO I SUBSCRIBE?
You can subscribe using the embedded form below or via the dedicated ConvertKit landing page.
You only need to enter two pieces of info: your email address and your first name. The email address will be the inbox into which the newsletter lands each month. The first name will be used only to address subsequent messages to you, allowing a sprinkle of personalisation!
When you’ve filled in those sections, check the agreement box and then press ‘SUBSCRIBE NOW’.
Important! Once you click subscribe you will receive a confirmation email to the address you enter.
To fully activate your subscription you need to click the ‘CONFIRM SUBSCRIPTION’ link in that follow-up email.
You may need to check your junk mail in case the confirm email ends up there. If you don’t receive this confirm email please try again and if that also fails to work just get in touch with me and we’ll try resolve the issue.
Once you confirm the subscription you will then receive a final, automatic welcome email from me introducing the newsletter and offering a few immediate references, especially for people who are new to my website and my services.
From the early soft-launch promotions I can see that nearly 15% of people who have initially subscribed have not yet followed up with the full activation. If you think you’ve subscribed, but haven’t yet received this welcome email from me that will be why.
Thereafter, the only emails you will continue to receive will be the monthly newsletters. You can unsubscribe at any time.
A huge thanks to Jane Zhang who has provided me with invaluable support and guidance in the development of this newsletter as well as the processes behind it. If you’re similarly looking to develop your own newsletter, or more broadly exploring email marketing, I would urge you to seek Jane’s expertise.