The first pop nonfiction book to explore the definition of data and how we can learn to speak
that language features thought-provoking conversations with 17 extraordinary leaders in
business tech medicine psychology health art and more who share new ideas about data
unpacking its powerful ability to reveal patterns tell stories stir emotion and illuminate
complexity. Data may be the most powerful force in society today. Data is everywhere
present in every moment every event every transaction or interaction with someone else.
Every time you send a text call a friend fill out a form hail a taxi stream a movie surf
the web pay a bill buy groceries buy anything take your temperature count your steps
swipe right (or left) you generate data. There's data in the weather in the air in the
ground in outer space. If you own a smartwatch you carry data on your body. If you have a
cardiac pacemaker you carry data in your body. So what is data really? It's a question that
is surprisingly hard to answer. To some data means numbers: figures on a screen dots on a
graph. It's also often (falsely) equated with facts an invariable form of concrete knowledge
that always tells the truth. But in reality data is hardly so incontrovertible. Data is an
abstraction of reality a useful but imperfect representation of real life. Like life it's
full of nuance imprecision and ambivalence. It's quantitative and it's qualitative. And it's
made by us-humans. These are some of the ideas that information designers Giorgia Lupi and
Phillip Cox explore in their fascinating new book Speak Data: Artists Scientists Thinkers
and Dreamers on How We Live Our Lives in Numbers . Speak Data invites us to see data
differently -not just as numbers on a chart but as a way to understand and communicate who we
are how we connect and how we make sense of the world. It's grounded in the principles of
Data Humanism a concept developed by coauthor and award-winning information designer Giorgia
Lupi which centers on people rather than numbers in its conception of data. In this
beautifully illustrated book the authors present data as a vocabulary that anyone can use
showing that when we truly learn to "speak data " we can open up new worlds of meaning about
ourselves and everything around us. Interviews in Speak Data include: Tech pioneer John
Maeda on the value of data visualization during global emergencies. Marketing legend Seth Godin
on how to use data to get people to really care about climate change. Museum curator Paola
Antonelli on whether data is art. Atomic Habits author James Clear on the ways data can (and
can't) describe human identity. Al data artist Refik Anadol on how big datasets can dream.
Organizational psychologist Adam Grant on using data to communicate nuance and uncertainty.
Activist Andy Marra on how to count something that's never been counted before-and why it
matters who is asking the questions. Writer Naresh Ramchanda on why he's a "data optimist" and
how data can close the empathy gap. Economist Max Roser on using data to see stories and not
just trends. Neuroscientist and physical therapist David Putrino on how tracking long Covid has
taught him to think differently about patient data versus patient experience. Physician and
design researcher Bon Ku on how data revealed a better way to design hospital emergency
departments. Al scholar Kate Crawford on why questions about the future of AI are really
questions about the future of democracy. Artist Ekene ljeoma on why we have all the data we
need to make change. And many more.
