Fast Data

I decided to try entering the Tableau Viz contest and since we needed to use a public data set, I was curious about looking at unemployment rates in the United States. I know the economy has been tough for everyone lately and I wanted to see how unemployment rates stack up by state and for the U.S. as a whole. I pulled data for the last ten years from the U.S. Department of Labor . They have lots of fascinating data to analyze. It was hard to pick which data set to use! I compared the annual average unemployment rate for the entire United States against state unemployment rates. I included the historical high and historical low unemployment rates to compare against July 2011 unemployment rates by state. Some highlights: Nevada had the highest unemployment rate (as of July 2011) at 12.9%. California had the second highest unemployment rate at 12%. Not promising for my state!  North Dakota had the lowest unemployment rate at 3.3%. Looks like it's time to move to North...

Here's a list of useful articles I've found perusing various websites, blogs, tweets, facebook statuses, etc. The amount of information available is incredible. So much to learn when it comes to data!  Enjoy! 1)   How To Use Facebook To Market Your Brand  - Social media isn't the future. It's the present and those who utilize it well have a huge advantage. Marketers already know this. 2)   Data driven: Improving Business and Society Through Data  - How is data changing the world? Special section from Forbes that focuses on the impact of data. 3)   How to Visually Improve Your Meetings  - We all have meetings we'd rather not attend ... how can we improve them? 4)   The Interconnected World of Tech Companies  - This is such a sweet infographic! Tech is connected in many more ways that you can imagine. 5)   The Org Charts Of All The Major Tech Companies  - A funny look at how the top companies are organized ... do you think ...

Here's a viz I created using Tableau Public .  An easy tool to use that helps you find insights from your data faster. Try creating a data viz and enter the Public Data Contest . Would be amazing to win a free trip to Vegas! <a href="#"><img alt=" " src="http://public.tableausoftware.com/static/images/Co/Comparison/Dashboard1/1_rss.png" style="height: 100%; width: 100%; border: none" /></a> Powered by Tableau

This is such a great metaphor for all those who love and interact with data.  What do you think? Thanks to Epicgraphic.com !   Image by EpicGraphic