Alvin Chang
@alv9n.com
● Professor @journalismdesign.bsky.social
● Interactive data journalist pudding.cool
● Moar buttondown.com/charthead // alv9n.com
● Interactive data journalist pudding.cool
● Moar buttondown.com/charthead // alv9n.com
Pinned
Reposted by Alvin Chang
Your morning read.
How billionaires took over American politics: The concentration of wealth among the richest Americans is unlike anything in history — and so is billionaires’ influence in politics.
wapo.st/48nkqMN
How billionaires took over American politics: The concentration of wealth among the richest Americans is unlike anything in history — and so is billionaires’ influence in politics.
wapo.st/48nkqMN
November 21, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Your morning read.
How billionaires took over American politics: The concentration of wealth among the richest Americans is unlike anything in history — and so is billionaires’ influence in politics.
wapo.st/48nkqMN
How billionaires took over American politics: The concentration of wealth among the richest Americans is unlike anything in history — and so is billionaires’ influence in politics.
wapo.st/48nkqMN
Right-wing YouTubers use political identity to make big money. Lefty shows do less of it.
A really great data analysis: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
A really great data analysis: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
November 20, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Right-wing YouTubers use political identity to make big money. Lefty shows do less of it.
A really great data analysis: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
A really great data analysis: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
The ninth annual Pudding Cup is live! Submit your non-commercial data/visual stories. Winners receive $1,500.
pudding.cool/pudding-cup/
pudding.cool/pudding-cup/
The Pudding Cup
The Pudding's annual picks for the best visual and data-driven stories
pudding.cool
November 12, 2025 at 6:37 PM
The ninth annual Pudding Cup is live! Submit your non-commercial data/visual stories. Winners receive $1,500.
pudding.cool/pudding-cup/
pudding.cool/pudding-cup/
A behind-the-scenes look at how I did this piece: buttondown.com/charthead/ar...
November 5, 2025 at 12:27 PM
A behind-the-scenes look at how I did this piece: buttondown.com/charthead/ar...
Reposted by Alvin Chang
How much does Congress talk about democracy? How often do they worry that democracy is eroding? @alv9n.com's latest project analyzes every congressional speech in the last 145 years.
pudding.cool/2025/11/demo...
pudding.cool/2025/11/demo...
November 4, 2025 at 3:20 PM
How much does Congress talk about democracy? How often do they worry that democracy is eroding? @alv9n.com's latest project analyzes every congressional speech in the last 145 years.
pudding.cool/2025/11/demo...
pudding.cool/2025/11/demo...
November 4, 2025 at 5:16 PM
top tier data viz defector.com/name-a-28-ye...
October 7, 2025 at 11:53 AM
top tier data viz defector.com/name-a-28-ye...
Reposted by Alvin Chang
On Wednesday, the GOP-controlled House Appropriations Committee voted 34-28 along party lines to advance a funding bill that calls for excluding people living in the states without legal status from #2030Census results that the 14th Amendment says must include “whole number of persons in each state”
September 11, 2025 at 1:09 PM
On Wednesday, the GOP-controlled House Appropriations Committee voted 34-28 along party lines to advance a funding bill that calls for excluding people living in the states without legal status from #2030Census results that the 14th Amendment says must include “whole number of persons in each state”
Reposted by Alvin Chang
Wu's lopsided victory came despite being outmatched in fund-raising. Kraft spent roughly $260 for every vote earned in the prelim. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/10/m...
via @daigofuji.bsky.social
via @daigofuji.bsky.social
September 11, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Wu's lopsided victory came despite being outmatched in fund-raising. Kraft spent roughly $260 for every vote earned in the prelim. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/10/m...
via @daigofuji.bsky.social
via @daigofuji.bsky.social
This is chilling.
Texas A&M University System orders audit of all courses after gender identity lesson goes viral
Details: bit.ly/42jauQZ
Details: bit.ly/42jauQZ
September 10, 2025 at 12:41 PM
This is chilling.
Reposted by Alvin Chang
Remember, if you encounter what seems like an implausible survey finding, ask:
1. Were survey respondents selected randomly or was this an opt-in poll?
2. Could the results, especially for young adults, be driven by bogus respondents?
Keep this post in mind: www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/... 🧪
1. Were survey respondents selected randomly or was this an opt-in poll?
2. Could the results, especially for young adults, be driven by bogus respondents?
Keep this post in mind: www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/... 🧪
September 8, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Remember, if you encounter what seems like an implausible survey finding, ask:
1. Were survey respondents selected randomly or was this an opt-in poll?
2. Could the results, especially for young adults, be driven by bogus respondents?
Keep this post in mind: www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/... 🧪
1. Were survey respondents selected randomly or was this an opt-in poll?
2. Could the results, especially for young adults, be driven by bogus respondents?
Keep this post in mind: www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/... 🧪
Reposted by Alvin Chang
Our desire to be serious and be taken seriously sometimes gets in the way of something even more important. Scarry understood the power of using fun to explain things that are complicated. This is how we can learn from that today.
simonrogers.net/2025/09/01/h...
simonrogers.net/2025/09/01/h...
How Richard Scarry taught me everything I know about visual storytelling
On the 60th anniversary of Busy Busy World, what we can all learn from a children’s illustrator My grandparents built a boat, and sailed around the world on it. Grandad had been a bricklayer,…
simonrogers.net
September 1, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Our desire to be serious and be taken seriously sometimes gets in the way of something even more important. Scarry understood the power of using fun to explain things that are complicated. This is how we can learn from that today.
simonrogers.net/2025/09/01/h...
simonrogers.net/2025/09/01/h...
August 29, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by Alvin Chang
On the left: Nate Cavanagh, a 28-year-old DOGE staffer and college dropout.
On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar.
This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media.
Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵
On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar.
This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media.
Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵
August 22, 2025 at 11:41 AM
On the left: Nate Cavanagh, a 28-year-old DOGE staffer and college dropout.
On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar.
This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media.
Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵
On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar.
This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media.
Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵
August 22, 2025 at 11:48 AM
The Parable of the Good Samaritan, if it ended halfway through.
JD Vance on homelessness: "I don't know why we accepted that it was reasonable to have crazy people yelling at our kids. You should not have to cross the street in downtown Atlanta to avoid a crazy person yelling at your family. Those are your streets."
August 21, 2025 at 7:00 PM
The Parable of the Good Samaritan, if it ended halfway through.
Reposted by Alvin Chang
"We need a government-wide changelog." - yes. strong cosign and thanks @flowingdata.com for the shoutout to my lil Census tracker flowingdata.com/2025/08/20/t...
Tracking changes to Census data
Hannah Recht is tracking data through the U.S. Census Bureau APIs: The Census Bureau doesn’t maintain a public changelog or regularly share updates about changes to their sprawling API universe. As…
flowingdata.com
August 20, 2025 at 6:38 PM
"We need a government-wide changelog." - yes. strong cosign and thanks @flowingdata.com for the shoutout to my lil Census tracker flowingdata.com/2025/08/20/t...
August 20, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Reposted by Alvin Chang
Do you want a bullhorn? Or do you want a whisper?
Miriam Tinberg is a great follow for smart, empathetic, and grounded conversations on the internet and we’re lucky to have her on our team.
Stay tuned for more!
Miriam Tinberg is a great follow for smart, empathetic, and grounded conversations on the internet and we’re lucky to have her on our team.
Stay tuned for more!
August 12, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Do you want a bullhorn? Or do you want a whisper?
Miriam Tinberg is a great follow for smart, empathetic, and grounded conversations on the internet and we’re lucky to have her on our team.
Stay tuned for more!
Miriam Tinberg is a great follow for smart, empathetic, and grounded conversations on the internet and we’re lucky to have her on our team.
Stay tuned for more!
The horizontal cuts are bad. Onion fonts are good. pudding.cool/2025/08/onio...
Dicing an Onion, the Mathematically Optimal Way
There is more than one way to dice an onion…
pudding.cool
August 12, 2025 at 4:53 PM
The horizontal cuts are bad. Onion fonts are good. pudding.cool/2025/08/onio...
A cruel, irresponsible, undemocratic, incompetent administration.
projects.propublica.org/venezuelan-i...
projects.propublica.org/venezuelan-i...
August 11, 2025 at 7:37 PM
A cruel, irresponsible, undemocratic, incompetent administration.
projects.propublica.org/venezuelan-i...
projects.propublica.org/venezuelan-i...
Reposted by Alvin Chang
We followed 260 migrants in Costa Rica—weekly—for 3 months. Findings:
• Stressors like economic precarity and family separation predicted spikes in psychological distress
• Distress quickly somatized: headaches, digestive issues, sleep disturbances
• Effects were immediate and reversible
• Stressors like economic precarity and family separation predicted spikes in psychological distress
• Distress quickly somatized: headaches, digestive issues, sleep disturbances
• Effects were immediate and reversible
July 30, 2025 at 6:10 PM
We followed 260 migrants in Costa Rica—weekly—for 3 months. Findings:
• Stressors like economic precarity and family separation predicted spikes in psychological distress
• Distress quickly somatized: headaches, digestive issues, sleep disturbances
• Effects were immediate and reversible
• Stressors like economic precarity and family separation predicted spikes in psychological distress
• Distress quickly somatized: headaches, digestive issues, sleep disturbances
• Effects were immediate and reversible
Just had a chill thinking about a PHP cron job that still might be running from my time at the Boston Globe... in 2012.
August 1, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Just had a chill thinking about a PHP cron job that still might be running from my time at the Boston Globe... in 2012.
August 1, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Such a classic Matt Daniels project
New project! @yufeng.bsky.social analyzed all of the words found on NYC Streets. The data comes from from 8 million Google Street View images, which yielded 138 million snippets of text:
🔗: pudding.cool/2025/07/stre...
🔗: pudding.cool/2025/07/stre...
July 31, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Such a classic Matt Daniels project