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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!
spectrum of accessibility— issue #65
I first took interest in sign language as a middle schooler. My friends and I, all hearing, learned some signs from the internet—most likely American Sign Language (ASL), as resources on it were more readily available than local sign languages—and used them to communicate with one another during
Ways of seeing accessibility with Equal Dreams
Accessibility is becoming an increasingly ubiquitous term used by practitioners in different fields, from researchers to designers to developers. Yet how the term is understood and how it’s practised are constantly being shaped by personal experiences, power dynamics, histories, contexts, and community dynamics. We sat down with Equal Dreams,
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
Meet the Community! Alexandra Khoo – data analytics strategist
Alexandra Khoo is at her best when she blends strategy, data analysis, creative design, and coding. Starting her career in international…
Meet the Community! Nilangika Fernando, data viz enthusiast
Nilangika is a data visualization enthusiast from Sri Lanka. She started her career as a researcher at Verité Research, one of Sri Lanka’s…
Endings — issue #29
Dear notes from equator subscribers, Thank you for being our pen pals. Although our exchange is usually one-way, we’re grateful to have a sliver of your attention and time, whether this is your first or twentieth letter from us. The past year has left me adrift, much like I’
Meet the Community! Andrea Lau, data visualization specialist
Andrea Lau is a data visualization specialist; she is the co-founder and one of the directors of Small Multiples, Australia’s leading data…
Humans of Kontinentalist: Arnold
Hey Arnold, what’s your role at Kontinentalist? I’m a full-stack developer. I’m responsible for maintaining our website and content management products and converting designs — such as web page styling and layout, or stories — into clickable buttons or components. I also help Rifqi, our dev lead, manage our
A practical guide to colouring data viz
There are lots of resources out there explaining things like colour theory, but knowing the theory and executing are 2 very different…
Off the gr
I can’t write anymore because of social media. Okay, more like, I don’t write anymore because of social media.
We don't need crystal balls to foretell our future — issue #28
For most of us, the future is a scary place. We're on a one-way ticket there, but we don't know where we're headed—or when we'll reach our station. It's unknowable by definition, and it's unnerving. I'