Tufte Appointed by Obama to Recovery Independent Advisory Panel

Last Friday, the White House put out a press release “President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts” – ordinarily this isn’t something we’d cover here at VizThink except for one key person who was mentioned in the release: Edward Tufte.

Tufte has been asked to join the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel, a group with the following mandate:

“To promote accountability by coordinating and conducting oversight of Recovery funds to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse and to foster transparency on Recovery spending by providing the public with accurate, user-friendly information.”

Regardless of our individual political persuasions, the appointment of Tufte to this board is a big advancement for everyone in the visual thinking space. While we’ve seen the industry grow and continue to develop a broader acceptance and understanding with people and businesses, governments in general have been very, very slow to get on board when it comes to using visuals to effectively communicate with their constituents. This appointment is a clear signal that some of the tides may be turning.

I’m doing this because I like accountability and transparency, and I believe in public service. And it is the complete opposite of everything else I do. Maybe I’ll learn something. The practical consequence is that I will probably go to Washington several days each month, in addition to whatever homework and phone meetings are necessary.
Edward Tufte – March 7, 2010

I’m looking forward to seeing what comes of this appointment and whether we see more publicly visible visual thinking at work in Washington and other governments.

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  • http://crisismaven.wordpress.com/ CrisisMaven

    Inspired by Tufte's seminal work I began collecting visualisation resources systematically. Check out my Data Visualisation References resource list, aspiring to be the most comprehensive on the net. If you miss anything that I might be able to find for you or if you yourself want to share a resource, please leave a comment.

  • http://ryancoleman.ca ryancoleman

    Thx for sharing your list… will definitely give it a look!