Hi, I’m Alan Smith, Data visualisation editor at the Financial Times. I’ve just finished an experimental project at the FT to both visualise and sonify the historical yield curve - a large dataset of over 100,000 data points. I’ve filmed a step-by-step walkthrough of the project. And the end product, a combined animated data visualisation and sonification of four decades of the US yield curve, is available on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoQBWcNw6IU . My full article is on the FT, website: ft.com/music-from-data My work has also coincided with the the release of a new open source tool funded by Google* that allows users to make music from spreadsheets. So - is data sonification ready to be the next big thing in data presentation? Can it bring data to new audiences such as including the blind/visually impaired, podcast listeners, and those accessing the web via screenless devices with voice interfaces. Or is it a simple novelty? Ask me anything! TwoTone app funded by Google (https://app.twotone.io/) Proof: https://i.redd.it/pmafgrjd94n21.jpg

Hi there, I work in the graphics department at the Financial Times website/newspaper where I have worked for over 22 years and have seen many changes in this industry over my career. My main area of interest is in cartography but you can ask me anything you want with regards to visualising data, telling stories with data, processes, software, working in a newsroom, how I got into data visualisation. Check out these links of previous work China’s polluted skies Air pollution: why London struggles to breathe Japan: the next big quake Sand castles on Jersey shore: property boom defies US flood risk Data visualisation: how the FT newsroom designs maps Global M＆A exceeds $3tn for fourth straight year Apple tests new iPhone price threshold at $999 Germany’s election results in charts and maps Due to the overwhelming response to a few of my recent posts on r/dataisbeautiful I thought it would be a good time to host an AMA Pollution in London 3D animation of pollution in China Animation of flooding caused by Ilisu Dam Proof: https://i.redd.it/dc6ab3noa9o11.jpg