Significance and the
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A (
JRSSA) are looking to appoint an RSS Fellow with expertise in data visualisation to lead on a new project.
The project incorporates several stages:
- Research, develop and publish best practice guidance on data visualisation and presentation, with contributors to Significance and JRSSA being the target audience.
- Join the Significance editorial board as data visualisation editor to oversee the implementation of the data visualisation guide, ensure it is fit for purpose, and revise as necessary.
- Work with the Significance editor and editorial board to develop a data vis “style guide”, which will also be made available as a code package – e.g. ggplot theme – for contributors to download and use.
Aims
The guide is intended to provide support and advice to contributors to
Significance and
JRSSA so that published data visualisations are high quality, readable, effective at conveying information, and fulfil their intended purpose.
It will summarise and provide links to authoritative advice on chart styles and formats for different types of data. It will also summarise and provide links to additional resources to help contributors override software defaults in common data visualisation software and packages.
The guide will also ensure that data visualisations are supplied to
Significance and
JRSSA:
- in correct dimensions and size, given the intended/available space;
- in correct resolutions and file formats, to ensure quality reproduction in print and online;
- with font styles that are consistent with the relevant publication;
- with font sizes that are legible at the published size;
- in colours that are readable by those with colour vision deficiency.
In addition, the development of a “style guide” for
Significance will help the magazine to meet reader demand for quality and consistency in published charts and graphs, as was identified by a 2021 survey of RSS members.
Timeline
The proposed project timeline is as follows:
Stage 1: three months
Stage 2: six months
Stage 3: three months
The successful candidate will have the option to serve a full three-year term as a member of the
Significance editorial board, as per the board’s terms of reference (available on request).
Person specification
The successful candidate will:
- be an RSS Fellow.
- be a qualified, practicing statistician/data scientist;
- have a proven track record in the design and production of data visualisations;
- be experienced in using software, coding languages, and packages that are commonly used by contributors to statistics/data science publications – e.g. R, Python.
Funding
An amount of £3,500 is available to fund the research and development stages of this project, payable to the successful candidate according to the following schedule:
- Completion of Stage 1: publication of data visualisation guide: £1,000
- Completion of Stage 2: publication of revised data visualisation guide: £500
- Completion of Stage 3: delivery of Significance data vis style guide and code package: £2,000
Please note:
Significance editorial board members serve in a voluntary capacity. Funding is for project deliverables only, and does not cover reviews and other tasks normally assigned to editorial board members as per the terms of reference (available on request).
To apply
Please send a CV and a covering letter (containing a brief biographic sketch and a statement about why you are interested in the role) to
significance@rss.org.uk.
Deadline
23 September 2022