Chapter 9Building Bridges
with Allen Hillery
Figure 9.1: The #DuBoisChallenge has its origins in Anthony Starks' recreations of sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois' series of Data Portraits for the 1900 Paris Exposition
Data Visualization Society / https://nightingaledvs.com/the-dubois-challenge// / last accessed Febuary 16, 2023
The paradox of education is […] that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated […] No society is anxious to have that kind of person around. What societies really, ideally, want is a citizenry which will simply obey the rules of society.
—James Baldwin
Conversations can help us see ourselves through the eyes of others. In the middle of my dialogue with Allen Hillery, I realized that I've devoted a substantial portion of my life to making connections. It's not a secret that I've used my books about visualization as excuses to muse about other matters—epistemology, literature, cognitive science, philosophy, the good life—that I believe can inform our work. I've also mentored many people and put them in touch with one another when I thought that such connections would be mutually helpful.
When these thoughts crossed my mind, I gently interrupted Allen and said, “Have you noticed that you've always been a bridge‐builder, both literally and figuratively?”
It's such moments of unforeseen insight that make ...
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