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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!
no better way to make sambal — issue #63
Ever since I can remember, the first day of Syawal, or Hari Raya, was not complete without a steaming, spicy bowl of kuah chelok in my late grandmother’s house. The traditional tangy soup was closely linked to our Boyan heritage, a word derived from Bawean Island in East Java,
Carrying memory through kitchen tools
How is cooking a symbol of community, memory, and cultural expression? In this behind-the-scenes article, writer Taahira Ayoob and designer Griselda Gabriele walk us through their process of crafting our latest story on natural utensils in Tamil kitchens. This story is based on Taahira’s research trip to Sri Lanka,
Humans of Kontinentalist: Hui Min Chun, Web Developer intern
How did you find Kontinentalist? At a time when I was just searching for any sort of internship whether full time or part time — because I was still in school — I saw the job posting for a web development intern on my school’s job portal. I applied as I
Stories of reclamation — issue #33
I think about this question a lot. Growing up in hyper-urban Singapore, we don’t so much think about land as we do country. Land is perceived by many states as a resource first, even though it encompasses and offers much more than that—a primordial and more holistic sense
Meet the Community! Keng, Data Editor at Pulitzer Center and Data Journalism trainer/consultant
Kuek Ser Kuang Keng studied chemical engineering as an undergraduate and worked as a journalist for Malaysiakini for 8 years before going…
Humans of Kontinentalist: Adhithi.M
Adhithi interned with us over six months, contributing diligently and invaluably to many projects, including: stories about Deepavali and…
Meet the Community! Ben Xiao, Data Scientist and Analyst
Ben Xiao is an aspiring data scientist and analyst, specialised in providing data-driven insights, having graduated with a Master’s degree…
Human drivers of a changing planet — issue #32
Lately, we’ve been hearing the word “unprecedented” a lot. Unprecedented rate of temperature rise, unprecedented frequencies of natural disasters, unprecedented numbers of injuries and deaths. Our climate is changing, and each day we are reminded it’s not for the better. But hey—when “unprecedented” is used to describe
Meet the Community! Krist Wongsuphasawat, data visualization engineer
Krist Wongsuphasawat is currently an Engineering Manager of the Data Experience team at Airbnb. He often publishes data visualisation work…
An ode to the producers — issue #31
The question of who produces the things we eat, use, and basically take for granted each day has seeped deeper into our consciousness over the past few years. It seems that humanity’s slowly (and hopefully, surely) woken up to the horrors of our overconsumption—and, with that, begun to
Meet the Community! Kimly Scott, Tableau Data Visualisation Specialist
Kimly Scott is an Australian Tableau data visualization expert and analytics manager. Although her data viz journey started just three…
Meet the Community! Lim Chee Aun, front-end engineer and map viz-builder
Lim Chee Aun is a front-end engineer who loves to continuously learn things and build useful applications. He’s particularly famous for…
Meet the Community! Diana Yukari, information designer
Diana Yukari is a Brazilian-Japanese information designer. She graduated with a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and…
New year, old clothes — issue #30
Recently, a friend’s acquaintance was searching for specialty coffee beans from countries near Singapore to reduce his carbon footprint. My friend quipped that those seemed rare. Apparently, things blew up real quick after that. Surely you’ve been in one of these conversations. A chat about sustainability nosedives, and