Declutter!

February 2020 | Storytelling with data

A frequent source of clutter in data visualization comes from unnecessary graph elements: borders, gridlines, data markers, and the like. These can make our visuals appear overly complicated and increase the work our audience has to undertake in order to understand what they are viewing. As we eliminate the things that don’t need to be there, our data stands out more. Let’s take a closer look at the benefit that decluttering can have on our data visualizations.
I’ve tried to find a solution to show lower is better without using words, unfortunately this makes a less appealing chart. Ended up with a clean smooth line chart. Maybe it could be improved by removing the legend and adding labels to the lines, only could not figure out where to put them so keep the legend.
The labels in the original are not adding much to the overall result, most important is the distance to the goal. Also removed the year from the months on the x-axis and added it to the title.

Alternatives to pies

June 2020 | Storytelling with data

You’ve just completed a summer pilot learning program on science aimed at improving perceptions of the field among young elementary children. You conducted a survey going into the program and at the end of it, and want to use this data as evidence of the success of the pilot program in your request for future funding.
It is so tempting to use a pie chart when you have a limited set of data, the risk of faling back on the trusty old pie is the limited options to compare. For this challenge I’m falling back on an old favorite, the 100% bar chart. with two 100% bar charts it is easy to see movement over the whole range (especially when like in this case, using a scalable but not so exact set of categories.

Only not completely sure on the colors, I’m more used to a risk based approach in which the lack of excitement will be red and the more engaged/excited group will get the less exciting green. Also tried the les to more exciting yellow to red, this also didn’t work out as good as hoped. At the end I decided to just pick a color and do a scale from light to dark (probably the way I would do it when doing it in an environment where colors are limited by some sort of guideline.

World Trial Qualifiers – 2020

October 2018 - December 2020 | Dutch Sheep Dog Society

In September 2020 the International Sheep Dog Society will organize the World Sheepdog Trial in York, England. As Dutch Sheep Dog Society we are invited to select a team to represent the Netherlands on this World Trial. This year we will organize Qualifier trials to select the best combinations of Handlers and Dogs for the Dutch Team.
Organizing this Qualifier series starts long before the first trial, In October the Trial Committee starts with making an initial planning and reviewing the rules and regulations (based on lessens learned from previous trials). Changes in the rules need to be published before december 1st to be eligible for a vote on the next AGM. From December 1st to December 31st our competitors can pre-register, based on those registrations we can make final adjustments to our planning. Meanwhile there are all kind of activities like making sure everybody is aware of the activities, finding suitable locations and getting sponsors and other partners on board.

Onward to the first Qualifier Trial in April operational activities will take place to make sure there will be series of challenging but fair trials. Also the final registration will take place and our competitors will have a lot of questions which need to be answered.

With a small team you need to be able to switch quickly between tasks. My tasks in this project;

    • Supporting members in writing and submitting rule change proposals
    • Update Documentation based on approved proposals
    • Setting up (pre)registration tools (Google Sheet, Google Form)
    • Finding sponsors
    • Selecting and inviting (international)Judges
    • Make travel arrangements for judge & volunteers
    • Preparing Trial Field
    • Calculate and publish scores and rankings

World Trial Qualifiers 2017

December 2015 - July 2017 | Dutch Sheep Dog Society

Once in every three years the International Sheep Dog Society organize the World Sheepdog Trials. For this championship we, the Dutch Sheep Dog Society, as associate of the ISDS, are asked to create a team which will represent the Netherlands on the WT in 2017. For selecting the Dutch Team we organized 4 qualifying trials. A place in the Dutch Team is, for many handlers, a valuable thing there is a lot of pressure to have a fair set of trials. This all starts with good rules and regulations and selecting the right judges. But also every minor detail counts, where on a regular trial you can get away with asking a running handler to help, on a qualifier trial this can be(or even look) unfair, therefore a lot of volunteers is needed.

My tasks in this project;

  • Updating documentation and get approval from the members
  • Selecting and inviting (international)Judges
  • Inviting Volunteers
  • Make travel arrangements for judge & volunteers
  • Calculate and publish scores and rankings

Member of Noordwijktrial Event Team

November 2013 - present | Noordwijktrial | Noordwijk

Noordwijktrial offers everybody the chance to make their first steps in sheepdog trialing, in a safe and open setting,  under supervision of a team of well trained professionals.  This is not only limited to handlers running their first trial or handlers who try to get to the next class, we also offer a variety of other sheepdog(trial) related activities. Working as volunteer on one of the Noordwijktrial events is a good learning experience in working with sheep or in Hospitality.  Noordwijktrial offers access to a large network of Trainers, Professionals and Volunteers.
Within this team I’m responsible for creating and maintaining all (IT)technical solutions. On the public and business oriented events I’m the public face of our organization.

  • Host and organize sheepdog trials and training events
  • Advise others in organizing sheepdog trials and training events
  • Build a trial registration tool (Google Sheets)
  • Build and Maintain website in WordPress

Member of Trial Committee

February 2012 - December 2020 | Dutch Sheep Dog Society

The Dutch Sheep Dog Society is the Dutch affiliate of the International Sheep Dog Society.  The Dutch Sheep Dog Society is promoting  improvements to the working sheepdogs by supporting good breeding as well as training. This is achieved by organizing sheepdog trials, supporting breeders with practical advise and supporting sheepdog owners with registration in the Studbook.

One of the major activities of the Dutch Sheep Dog Society is organizing the Dutch National Sheepdog Trial and selecting the team to represent the Netherlands on the World Sheep Dog Trials. In my role as Trial Committee Member I’ve organized many of those trials including setting up all documentation needed for a fair and equal competition.

  • Organize sheepdog trials and training events
  • Organize qualifying trials for the Dutch Team for the World Trial 2020
  • Organize qualifying trials for the Dutch Team for the World Trial 2017
    • Update rules and regulations for Qualifying Trials
    • Invite and Plan travel for Volunteers and (international) judges
    • Calculate and publish scores and rankings
  • Develop structure and documents which will support the team or external parties in organizing sheepdog trials