I know I promised updates on my d3 progress, but I haven’t gotten to any of the parts where you make stuff yet. I’m also working with a professor to automate my It’s On Us code to be run hourly and (with the help of the d3 training) produce some graphs comparing signups over time. In the meantime, go read stuff that other people wrote.
photo credit: Huffington Post from this sweet article about the best after-school reading program ever
Now, I’m no super student. I don’t have a ton of time — or motivation, frankly — to do a lot of analytics reading outside of school. But when I do, here’s where I go.
MIT’s analytics blog
If you don’t have a subscription to the MIT Sloan Management Review magazine (and at $75/year, I do not), you can sign up as a free “Site Member” and read three articles per month. That may not sound like much, but they don’t seem to update the analytics posts that often so it’s not so bad. Plus, some articles are free regardless.
FiveThirtyEight
I enjoy FiveThirtyEight articles because they use analytics to discuss relatable, everyday topics (social issues, politics, entertainment, science, sports, etc.) rather than obscure business applications. They expand my perspective on what analytics can do while keeping me informed on happenings in the world.
Analytics Magazine
This publication from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is, despite being formatted as a high-quality magazine, completely free. It’s published every other month so, unlike my ill-fated experience with a subscription to the Economist, I actually have a decent chance of getting through each issue before the next one comes out.
I also try to support my fellow students by reading their blogs:
Sports, Analytics and Lipstick
This blog by the lovely Emily Covill focuses mostly on baseball analytics. I envy her approach of working on a side project and posting updates on her progress - her baseball hall of fame posts are pretty cool.
Let Numbers Tell the Story
I have to be honest, I do not understand the rules of (American) football and am pretty sure I’ve never watched an entire game. But perhaps I will understand and appreciate football a little better if I continue reading Marlyn Thompson’s blog!
Ian Lempert
Ian just started his blog recently so I’m not sure what kind of theme he’ll take, but given his list of prior publications I’m excited to see what he has in store for us.