Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Saturday 14 May
1:00 PM - 2:15 PM
Data journalist, writer, producer and presenter Mona Chalabi joins us via livestream from the US to share her mission to ‘take the numb out of numbers.’ While analysing statistics for the United Nations, Mona saw how vital data was and how easily people with specific agendas could manipulate it. So, she set out to make data more transparent and accessible for all.
Through her illustrations, animations, and articles for publications like The Guardian, FiveThirtyEight and The New York Times, Chalabi explores data sets on topics like affirmative action, voting trends, race and politics, alongside more offbeat issues like ‘how many Americans eat pizza for breakfast.’ In this keynote talk hosted by broadcaster, journalist and podcast host, Elizabeth Kulas, Chalabi will walk the audience step-by-step through her process for creating data visualisations using simple language, beautiful images and a decent dose of humour.
Please note Mona Chalabi will appear via video feed.
Presented in partnership with Melbourne Knowledge Week and RMIT Culture
Featuring
Mona Chalabi
Mona Chalabi is a journalist who really loves numbers. She is the Data Editor of The Guardian where she writes articles, produces documentaries, and illustrates, as well as animates, data.
After analysing statistics for the United Nations, Mona Chalabi saw how important data was, but also how easily it could be used by people with their own specific agendas. Since then, her work for organisations like Transparency International and The Guardian has had one goal: to make sure as many people as possible can find and question the data they need to make informed decisions about their lives. She gives speeches and teaches courses on data journalism, and when she can, she illustrates data. Her illustrations have been exhibited by the Design Museum and were commended by the Royal Statistical Society, of which they said, “Her deceptively simple graphs are fun and accessible.”
Mona helped create the Emmy-nominated four-part video series “Vagina Dispatches” which explores the physical, social, and sometimes political dynamics that surround women’s bodies. She also executive produced and hosted Strange Bird, a podcast about things that we’re not great at talking about. Mona has a master’s degree in International Security from the Paris Institute of Political Studies and has worked for FiveThirtyEight, the Banks of England, the Economist Intelligence Unit, and the International Organization for Migration.
Mona lives in New York City. The only thing you need to know about her personal life is that she loves Peter Falk.
Elizabeth Kulas
Elizabeth Kulas is an audio host and reporter. In 2019, she created and hosted 7am, a daily news podcast from Schwartz Media. Before that, Elizabeth lived in New York, where she worked for NPR's Planet Money podcast and Gimlet Media's Reply All. In 2016, while working at NPR, Elizabeth won a Peabody Award for coverage of the Wells Fargo banking scandal.