We are Awful, We are Better, We Can be Better

The first link of this edition was a much need reminder for me: the world is awful, the world is better than it once was, and the world can be much better than it is now. I think most people are bad at believing all three things to be true (including me). But the following blog post from Our World in Data explains how zooming out enough can reveal data that proves this to be true. I highly recommend it (the other stuff is good too, but the first link truly pops!).

Unrelated, but last week on a whim I renovated my website by re-coding it all in pure HTML/CSS. Previously I used the Svelte framework, which is great in its own right, but I got so tired of battling with node packages to do simple things. So back to basics. I wrote about why I did it here and what I feel are some benefits.

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Anyways, enjoy the links! See ya later!

Read

The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better.

A few years ago, I read Hans Rosling’s Factfulness for the first time. Ever since, even when it can be hard to ignore how the world feels, I try to remind myself of charts like the above. This blog post (written by Rosling’s foundation Our World in Data) explains why, across many global metrics, looking closely at the data across time reveals all three statements to be true: the world is awful, AND the world is much better than it used to be, AND the world can be better than it is right now. One of those rare moments when a simple data visualization can stop you in your tracks.

Explore

Here’s who lives in your city’s worst heat islands

Over the years I have seen a few newsrooms cover the climate change angle of “how hot is your city?”, but this piece from Radio Canada stands out as exceptional visual storytelling. The shaded waffle bar charts help make clear the relationship between vegetation, wealth, and a hyperlocal cooling effect.

Learn

PAC-MOM (and other Critical Coding Recipes)

In this recipe, Annina Rüst plays through a design thought experiment that re-imagines PAC-MAN through a modern, intersectional feminist lens. PAC-MOM is a game about gender, food insecurity, and the uphill battles that PAC-MOM must fight in order to get the same amount as PAC-MAN (sound familiar?).

The entire website introduces a fascinating approach to thinking more critically about software, coding, and technology. So much technology, whether it be a game or a work website, has been built in a sort of make-believe neutral space, ignoring prejudices and challenges that face certain people groups in the real world. Maybe it’s an exercise in escapism, but I think there is so much you lose when so many people are left out. Re-imagining older software seems a perfect place to start. I look forward to implementing some of the exercises in the future for classes and workshops.

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