Room #14 Is Not a Magical Place
I have just returned from a week of complete seduction and surrender in La Ville-Lumière-Paris. Ah, Paris: flowing wine, warm and crusty bread, jaw-dropping architecture, subtle yet sophisticated fashions, beguiling…
Improving the Odds — Are You a Donor?
I have been following the case of Sarah Murnaghan, a dying 10-year-old girl who, after a federal judge granted her family's emergency petition, has become eligible to seek donor lungs…
A Profoundly Moving Data Display
This past Memorial Day I was greatly moved by news stories about the courage and sacrifice of so many in service to our country. It was also a quiet time…
We Could Surely Use Another C. Everett Koop Right Now
Although he was 96 years old and had a hell of a good run, I was still saddened to learn of the death of former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop…
Pumpkin Wars and Hospital Ratings
Last weekend my husband, Bret, and I traveled to Keene, New Hampshire, to visit our daughter, Annie, who is serving with AmeriCorps|Vista at a school near the town, and to…
No Grand Vision
I was recently flipping through yet another design-challenged presentation of healthcare data, and started thinking about a project on the Grand Canyon I'd done when I was in the eighth…
Mere Mortals and Mortality Data
Many, many moons ago when I was a dating girl, I discovered that there were basically two categories of bad dates. There was the date that I hoped might lead…
Politely Provocative
I have been accused on more than one occasion of having the attention span of a gnat. I don't think this is true. Rather, based on evidence demonstrating that people…
Busted by “Big Data”
A couple of weeks ago, The New York Times published a really terrific article about how companies like Target use "Big Data" to identify what its customers are likely to…
The Power of the Scribble
NOTE: CHECK TABLE The Power of the Scribble Recently I was thumbing through Colin Ware's book Visual Thinking for Design when I was reminded of the expressive power of lines.…