Eli Holder
LightNews LightNews
banner
elibryan.bsky.social
Eli Holder
@elibryan.bsky.social
2.6K followers 4.5K following 310 posts
Raleigh. How might we visualize people, fairly and equitably? Data / dataviz / design / psychology / research geek. He / him. Chaotic good. Follows Fizzlethorpe Bristlebane. Design / research / writing at https://3iap.com.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Eli Holder
eff.org
Turn off your phone’s “advertising ID” to make it harder for location data brokers to track you. (2/4)
October 2, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Reposted by Eli Holder
hooperhooper.bsky.social
Last year I wrote about the NCGOP leaderships multi-decade obsession with erasing LGBT people from UNC’s campus life for @triangleblogblog.bsky.social. Might need to update soon unfortunately. triangleblogblog.com/2024/05/05/t...
The long and eventful history of Tim Moore and Peter Hans’ animosity towards marginalized people - Triangle Blog Blog
A group civics blog covering town council, education, transportation, and recreation in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, NC.
triangleblogblog.com
September 18, 2025 at 1:45 PM
elibryan.bsky.social
Kinda like pufferfish sushi... good if you get it right, but one wrong slice and ☠️☠️☠️!!
September 15, 2025 at 1:58 PM
elibryan.bsky.social
Appreciate this analysis! Is the trend related to any particular component of the deprivation index more than others? Not sure from this dataset if that's an easy thing to break out, but I'd be curious how this tracks with housing?
September 9, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by Eli Holder
chezvoila.com
Rosling’s insistance on looking beyond averages to see the world as it really is reminds me of the work of @elibryan.bsky.social and Cindy Xiong. 📊

nightingaledvs.com/unfair-compa...
Top left: line chart of math scores from 1965 to 2015 comparing men and women where men are slightly higher throughout. To right: similar line chart comparing the average income per day of US and Mexico from 1965 to 2015 where US is higher throughout. Now let's look at the same data in a third way. Instead of looking at the averages each year, let's look at the range of math scores, or incomes, in one particular year. Left: area chart of number of individuals with different math scores 2016, separating men and women, who mostly overlap. Right: Number of individuals with different incomes 2016 where Mexico overlaps in the middle with the US. Now we get a sense of all the individuals who were bundled into the average number. Look! There is an almost complete overlap between men and women's math scores. The majority of women have a male math twin: a man with the same math score as they do. When it comes to incomes in Mexico and the United States, the overlap is there but it is only partial. What is clear, though, looking at the data this way is that the two groups of people — men and women, Mexicans and people living in the United States — are not separate at all. They over-lap. There is no gap. Of course, gap stories can reflect reality, In apartheid South Africa,
September 1, 2025 at 11:40 AM
elibryan.bsky.social
Go for broke! Log scaling!
September 4, 2025 at 6:51 PM
elibryan.bsky.social
Thanks for sharing RJ!
August 25, 2025 at 3:00 PM
elibryan.bsky.social
Appreciate it! This specific talk wasn't recorded, but...

My last public talk for "R Ladies" covered similar material: 3iap.com/rladies2025/

I'm also generally available for team workshops, if that's helpful: 3iap.com/workshops/eq...

The SIGGRAPH abstract has notes: doi.org/10.1145/3721...
R Ladies Rome Talk: Deathly Dataviz
Deathly Dataviz: How Public Health Dashboards Can Backfire, and What We Can Do Instead. A presentation for R Ladies Rome.
3iap.com
August 25, 2025 at 2:59 PM
elibryan.bsky.social
What can we do here?

@elijfinkel.bsky.social speed dating work suggests a much less bleak dating world, vs Tinder's 80/20 dynamic: doi.org/10.70400/NEL...

@jamieamemiya.bsky.social & co suggest counterfactuals to blame systems, not people: doi.org/10.1177/1745...

Which maybe looks like this...
A quote describing Eli J. Finkel’s “Actor, Partner, Relationship” model of attraction. It reads: “Rather than having the 10s match with the 10s... most of us can find a partner who is something close to a 10 for us.” There’s also a figure loosely illustrating this, with lots of people matching with lots of other people. a bar chart showing swiping / liking behavior on tinder between different gender groups text says: “Better: Blame tinder, not women” a play on “Blame systems, not people” The original bar chart showing swiping / liking behavior on tinder between different gender groups, paired with a counterfactual bar chart showing liking behavior in speed dates for different gender groups. The title says “Tinder Distorts Dating Behavior”
August 24, 2025 at 6:29 PM
elibryan.bsky.social
Genetic determinism also shows up in incel belief systems, tangled up with some wild takes on online dating statistics... (e.g. women's suspected urge to "trade up" beyond their "looksmatch").

Preston & co: doi.org/10.1177/1097...
Vallerga & Zurbriggen: doi.org/10.1111/asap...
Slide showing Sydney Sweeney beside the Jamie Miller character from Netflix’s “Adolescence” series Beside Sweeney is text: “Sydney Sweeney is genetically superior” Beside Miller is text “Others are genetically inferior.” This concept of genetic worth is part of both eugenics and the incel belief system Slide showing a fake statistical statement about inequality in dating: “80% of women are only interested in the top 20% of men. So 80% of men have to fight for the bottom 20% of women.” Beside it is a bar chart showing swiping / liking behavior on tinder between different gender groups, which are interpreted among incels as evidence of women’s “hypergamy” A bar chart showing swiping / liking behavior on tinder between different gender groups. A figure loosely illustrating the presumed lookism 80 / 20 rule “80% of women are only interested in the top 20% of men. So 80% of men have to fight for the bottom 20% of women.” To the right are different explanations offered for these disparities (and lack of dates)
August 24, 2025 at 6:29 PM
elibryan.bsky.social
What can we do (for the charts)? Part of the misattributions stem from design choices.

❌ Bar charts increased genetic and personal blame for health disparities.

✅ These "geo-emphasized" jitter plots shifted blame toward systemic explanations.

Links + videos from our last paper: 3iap.com/mbat/
Slide showing a bar chart of public health disparities with the text “Save lives. Stop bar charts.” From my deathly dataviz talk: https://3iap.com/rladies2025/ Slide showing the “geo emphasis” chart from our must be a tuesday study, with text “We can do better” From must be a tuesday study: https://3iap.com/mbat/ How did viewers explain health disparities in our Must Be A Tuesday study (https://3iap.com/mbat/)? It shows that conventional bar charts significantly increased genetic attribution and personal blame. And that the geo-emphasis charts significantly shifted blame from personal toward external attributions. Slide shows a simplisitc chart of outcomes, hiding variability, which says “less of this” And a more complete jitter plot of outcomes, showing variability, which says “more of this”
August 22, 2025 at 4:30 PM
elibryan.bsky.social
Similar stories here:

Good outcomes = good genes
→ "Do Black people really need vaccines or anesthesia?"

Bad outcomes = bad genes
→ "There's nothing we can do to help!"

These charts are obviously well-intended, but ours + other studies find that viewers often misattribute these disparities.
Demonstrating viewers’ explanations for health disparities based on viewing health disparity charts. They often blame people (personal attribution) by explaining the disparities in terms of personal behavior or characteristics “Drinking and smoking”, “too much fried food”, “bad genes.” These may make sense at individual levels, but not for populations. Or you could attribute these disparities to external social determinants of health like “access to care, good food”, “neighborhood pollution”, “structural racism” quotes are paraphrased from qual responses seen in the “Must be a Tuesday” study https://doi.org/10.1109/VIS55277.2024.00021 Tracing a theory of action for how genetic misattributions can build into other beliefs that ultimately lead to tangible real world outcomes, like Black patients being misdiagnosed when presenting with pain. From my deathly dataviz talk: https://3iap.com/rladies2025/ RFK Jr’s statement about Black vs White vaccine schedules. It shows his quote: “We should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule that’s given to whites, because their immune system is better than ours.” Two news headlines showing Sen Roger Marshall and Sen Bill Cassidy blaming public health problems on individuals. They read: “GOP Senator Blames Americans For Most Of Their Health Problems” https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/roger-marshall-make-america-healthy-again-1235232716/ “Maternal death rate isn’t as bad if you don’t count Black women, GOP senator says” https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-senator-la-outlier-maternal-death-rate-skewed-black-women-2022-5
August 22, 2025 at 4:30 PM
elibryan.bsky.social
Similar story here:

Good outcomes = good behavior (us)
→ Bad outcomes = bad behavior (others)
→ "Should we spend so much $$$ vaccinating people who don't deserve it?"
A quote from RFK Jr “It’s exceedingly difficult for measles to kill a healthy individual ...there’s a connection between those who suffer from measles and individuals who lack proper nutrition or don’t engage in regular physical activity.” A quote from Dr Oz, head of medicaid, “It’s your patriotic duty to be as healthy as you can.” Two quotes from Attwell et al 2018’s focus group study of anti-vaxers. Attwell et al 2018 ‘The Unhealthy Other’ How vaccine rejecting parents construct the vaccinating mainstream. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.01.076 News headline announcing cuts to mRNA vaccine research. It reads: RFK Jr cancels $500m in funding for mRNA vaccines for diseases like Covid” https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74dzdddvmjo
August 22, 2025 at 4:30 PM