Learn to build an analytics community in your organization from scratch How to Build a Data Community shows readers how to create analytics and data communities within their organizations. Celebrated author Eva Murray relies on intuitive and practical advice structured as step-by-step guidance to demonstrate the creation of new data communities. How to Build a Data Community uses concrete insights gleaned from real-world case studies to describe, in full detail, all the critical components of a data community. Readers will discover: What analytics communities are and what they look like Why data-driven organizations need analytics communities How selected businesses and nonprofits have applied these concepts successfully and what their journey to a data-driven culture looked like. How they can establish their own communities and what they can do to ensure their community grows and flourishes Perfect for analytics professionals who are responsible for making policy-level decisions about data in their firms, the book is also a must-have for data practitioners and consultants who wish to make positive changes in the organizations with which they work.

Explore different perspectives and approaches to create more effective visualizations #MakeoverMonday offers inspiration and a giant dose of perspective for those who communicate data. Originally a small project in the data visualization community, #MakeoverMonday features a weekly chart or graph and a dataset that community members reimagine in order to make it more effective. The results have been astounding; hundreds of people have contributed thousands of makeovers, perfectly illustrating the highly variable nature of data visualization. Different takes on the same data showed a wide variation of theme, focus, content, and design, with side-by-side comparisons throwing more- and less-effective techniques into sharp relief. This book is an extension of that project, featuring a variety of makeovers that showcase various approaches to data communication and a focus on the analytical, design and storytelling skills that have been developed through #MakeoverMonday. Paging through the makeovers ignites immediate inspiration for your own work, provides insight into different perspectives, and highlights the techniques that truly make an impact. Explore the many approaches to visual data communication Think beyond the data and consider audience, stakeholders, and message Design your graphs to be intuitive and more communicative Assess the impact of layout, color, font, chart type, and other design choices Creating visual representation of complex datasets is tricky. There's the mandate to include all relevant data in a clean, readable format that best illustrates what the data is saying--but there is also the designer's impetus to showcase a command of the complexity and create multidimensional visualizations that "look cool." #MakeoverMonday shows you the many ways to walk the line between simple reporting and design artistry to create exactly the visualization the situation requires.

2nd Ed. 2015. Edited by Michelle Richmond, New York Times best-selling author. THE ODYSSEY OF IZZY traces the roots of American punk rock across the American West and over the underground as Izzy O'Hara tries to find her brother Tommy who ran off with a rockabilly band in the 80s. A lovable misfit, quirky and tender, Izzy suffers a nervous tic that's twice misdiagnosed, and it's her peculiar vision that reveals the mystery of her brother's disappearance and their troubled past. Her odyssey takes her on the road with Ray Z. Omaha and the Twelve Steppers, a band Tommy admired. Can she survive another last call and track her brother down? Ray and the boys surprise her--but in a good way, not "Hi, we're Rockabilly Vampires." The character Ray Z. Omaha is based on Charlie Burton of Nebraska, and 10 of Charlie's songs are included.