Tableau vs R

I feel rueful. I’ve learned Tableau. A proprietary tool [cue the horror-movie sound].

Nothing wrong with that, you say? Well, I felt like a traitor, given that my book, Computing Skills for Biologists, spends many pages on why to prefer open-source software over proprietary tools.

In academia, some people carry it like a badge of honor that they don’t have Microsoft Office installed. While the intentions are good (accessibility of open source tools for everyone), the choice turns out less clear cut in an industry setting.

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Boston crime in times of COVID-19

I am writing this at a time when COVID-19 paralyzes the world. The fatalities, geographic patterns, and economic impact of the disease are subject to fantastic visualizations elsewhere.

However, the lockdown in response to the disease has an impact on almost all aspects of our life and, hence, creates striking patterns in otherwise consistent data.

Here, we’ll take a look at other (equally sad) graphs—the crime statistics in Boston. Did the number of reported offenses change during COVID-19? Did the occurrence of specific offenses vary in comparison to other periods?

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