One Week On

Upon the launch of the Data Visualization Society launch last week, we were met with a response that surpassed any of our expectations. While we assumed a few hundred people might sign up in the first week, over 2300 members have joined to date. This points not only to the enthusiasm present in the data visualization community, but also to a desire to have a place to come together to discuss issues related to the profession and to find centralized resources.

The overwhelming success of the first week since launch is exciting and scary. Exciting because it is reaffirming to see that we were not off-track; others felt a similar void within the community. Scary because it really puts the pressure on us to make sure this develops into the awesome thing you all (and we) want it to be. (But we also think that this kind of pressure is a good thing!)

Today, we’re opening up the Slack chat platform. We’re going to open it up in batches in the order people signed up to keep it manageable. Slack will be a place for members to share their own work, solicit structured critique from the community, and participate in a weekly discussion about issues facing the community.

Volunteers have helped to translate the introductory Medium Post into Spanish, Arabic, Romanian and Portuguese in an effort to expand the reach of Data Visualization Society. Chinese and other versions will be posted soon.

As far as our long-term value proposition, we expect to continue to collect information and resources, build out community on slack, respond to community feedback, and be agile about where we go from here. We are working to support the global enthusiasm we’ve received and thinking through what a local chapter structure will look like.

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Bato a cinza enquanto espero. “Poema de sarjeta e de trottoir ou piranho” is published by Luisa Godoy Pitanga.