Hey! 👋
Welcome to Kawan—our vibrant community of data heads and storytellers. We’re all about improving data literacy and sharing nuanced stories about Asia. Come hang!
Pluck, pluck, pluck — issue #74
What would you do if you discovered a new resource growing in abundance on your land? What if it comes with a cost? Human behaviour is age-old, and we seem bound to repeat the choices that have echoed throughout history. We ponder access, utility, and the secret calculations we make every day.
Better, greener, more sustainable: But at whose expense?
We all want a better, greener, and more sustainable future, we also want abundance in agriculture, food production, and natural conservation. But adding the decolonial lens forces us to ask: At whose expense is this better, greener, more sustainable development made possible?
What we did to prepare ourselves as first-time speakers at the Outlier data vis conference
Outlier was a much-celebrated online conference by the Data Visualization Society (DVS) that took place from 4–8 February 2021
Open for a surprise! — issue #20
Here at notes from the equator, we "see" each other more than once a year, but...have you noticed something different about us? 😗 That's right, we've had a facelift! Our newsletter has changed quite a bit since it began in September 2019. We started
Introducing our community section on Medium—and call for submissions! 🎉
At the recent Outlier conference hosted by Data Visualisation Society, Kontinentalist hosted an informal video call (an “unconference”)…
Humans of Kontinentalist: Amanda Teo (again!)
Amanda was our design intern in 2018, and we welcomed her back two years later as a UX Architect! Fun fact, the animation you see on our…
Filling our tummies and enriching our minds at Spice Zi
When you create something, the reaction to your creation is often hard to anticipate. Upon release of our story on chilli sauces in Asia…
Are you prepared for the new year? — issue #19
As 2020 rolled out (at last!), I did something I'd never done before—I paid for a tarot card reading. I'd never been one for the supernatural, but I found it a useful way to check in about where things are and how one might look
Faces of Indonesia’s LGBT people — seen through four films
In 2019, Garin Nugroho made waves with Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku, a coming-of-age film that portrays a boy’s exploration of his gender and…
Transitioning from journalism to data storytelling: Telling human-centric stories
Let’s be real — it was tough. During my first few months at Kontinentalist, I can now admit with less shame (since I’ve accepted it’s all…
Droppin' by to say thanks — issue #18
Fellow explorers, The year 2020 is coming to an end, and boy, what an adventure it has been. We started the year barely aware of COVID-19's existence, and now we have vaccines for it. Along the way, we've done our best to provide you with
Our favourite projects of 2020
We made it! What better time to reflect and give thanks to the end of this dastardly year than to look back at some of our favourite…
Creating my first data vis story: a process
In which I detail my experience with my first data vis story on spicy food in Asia and hope it helps someone else in a similar place.
A cause for celebration — issue #17
As pictures of Thanksgiving meals filled my social media, I found it hard to believe that we're almost at the year's end. No one would have ever foreseen that the world would spend 2020—a new decade—in chaos, confusion, and with only a glimmer of