Boston Meetup Highlights Data Viz at Microsoft’s NERD Center on July 20

The Boston group is having its first speaker Meetup at the Microsoft NERD Center, 1 Memorial Drive, on Tuesday, July 20, organized by Matt Carroll et al. Munchies are sponsored by Microsoft and The Boston Globe/Boston.com.

Interested in learning more about the cutting-edge world of data visualization? Want to know how to turn lifeless data into game-changing charts, maps, and visuals? Martin Wattenberg and Fernanda Viégas, world-recognized leaders in data visualization, will be the main speakers. Their pioneering work has reinvented visualization as a mass medium. They will present new tools for helping reporters create timelines.

The two led IBM’s Visual Communication Lab and their landmark system, Many-Eyes.com, was the first to put powerful visualization tools in the hands of a general audience. Their vision of democratizing visualization has empowered journalists, businesspeople, and scientists to tell stories with data.

Also speaking: Austin Gardner-Smith will talk about Pinyadda.com, a web application designed to make it easy to gather, customize, and share news and information from across the web

The meeting starts at 6 p.m., with munchies until 7, when talks start.