Today’s Tech@State conference will focus entirely on data visualization, looking at examples of how data was successfully communicated and shared via compelling visualizations, tools to take data out of PDFs and get it into a more digestible format, and strategy for how to do this and get the best results. Much of our team will be there to talk about our work creating data visualizations around topics like the famine in the Horn of Africa, violence against journalists in Afghanistan, and microfinance in Africa, as well as our open source mapping tools that make it easy to create and share fast, custom maps.

We’ll participate in two sessions. Eric will be on the panel discussion Visualizations for AID Transparency and Management at 1:30, where he’ll discuss some strategies and examples of how data visualizations and open data can make operations more efficient. Dave will speak at the Best Practices for Visualization Interoperability session, also at 1:30, about how to use open formats and open tools to give your visualizations more reach and ensure they’re accessible no matter where they’re being accessed.

We’re particularly excited to see some new maps shared for the first time by the State Department, including HumanRights.gov’s new maps showing Anti-semitism in Europe, Internet Freedoms in the Middle East and North Africa and Criminalization of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in South Asia.

If you’d like to talk about custom map visualizations or about how you can create and host your own maps using TileMill and TileStream, look for someone from our team. Eric, Dave, Alex, AJ, Nate, and myself will all be there throughout the day and sticking around for drinks after. We’ll also be at tomorrow’s unconference walking through how you can make and share your own custom maps with our tools.