Please, let me informally introduce myself...

Hi, my name is Natalie and I have just joined Swivel full-time to help out with marketing.  You might have seen some of my data and graphs on Swivel in the last year or so. Some of my favorites are: When Man's Best Friend isn't that Friendly, Who is Bringing Home the Bacon?, and Putting Health in the Hands of Patients. 

Last summer, Swivel hired me as a journalism intern. Hired me -- an English major from Cal who spent a year researching gender in contemporary fairy tales -- to write about data and numbers. Luckily, I didn't have to perform all those lowly duties you imagine when you hear the word, "intern", like answering phones and running around getting Brian and Sara's coffee.  Not once did I have to utter the words, "Was that one sugar or two?" Instead, I learned how to shoot a Nerf gun, play tennis on Wii, and how to scrum with the best of 'em.

But really, I spent my days at our lovely office in San Francisco scouring the news and the web for compelling stories based on data.  What intrigued me the most about Swivel, and still does, is that Swivel offers hope for a place where the stories are based on the numbers, rather than the spin and the hype that characterizes most of the news these days.

In the last year, I have had the opportunity to see Swivel grow from a public playground for data lovers to Swivel Business, where people will be able to compare public and private data and share insights.  I am very excited to be a part of the company as that growth continues.

Part of my new job will be managing Tasty Data Goodies and Swivel Code, our developer's blog for the technically inclined.  I hope that our blogs will be a place where you can come to find tasty data goodies, happenings in the data community, updates about our product, and stories about how Swivel is connecting people through data.  If there is anything you would like to see on either of our blogs, drop me a line.  Check back often!

Comments

[Dave Younskevicius]

Sorry for the late reply, I just caught this in my RSS reader. Anyway, given how often I saw you post data and make replies, Natalie, it makes sense that you're working there.

As a fellow data nerd, let me say that most of the data you post is pretty cool. So, I just have one question: How do you find your source material? Or is that a trade secret? :) It seems like you have some pretty good ways of digging up data that maybe I hadn't heard of, so I was just curious how you managed to do so.

- Dave

[Natalie]

Hey Dave,

Thanks for your comment. It's always great to hear that someone else is interested in the same data I am!

And since I'm all about sharing public data, I don't have any secrets to keep on finding it. Actually, I wish I had some trade secret on a sure-fire way to finding the data you want!

I'm a pretty big NPR nerd (in addition to being a data nerd. hehe), so I listen for interesting news stories and then I look for the numbers to back them up. I also read newspapers online (NY Times and BBC are my faves), which are usually pretty good at citing the report or poll they got their data from -- and then I hunt down the source. I don't always find exactly what I'm looking for, but sometimes I end up with something more interesting instead. :)

[Jon (drunkenlamppost)]

Ahah! It all makes sense. You may have my dream job Natalie (well, depending how much they pay you I guess). I'm in the statistics/web intersection business myself, so this is all very interesting.

[Natalie Glatzel]

Hey Jon,

Thanks! It's always awesome to hear someone thinks your job is interesting.

I think I have my dream job too. :)

[Richard G]

We're developing a new source for creating RSS Feeds and would love to have feedback as we develope it (like "go get 'em), much less have folks use the site in practical terms. The web site is www.rssmint.com, and could be pronounced "our assessment.com". It might be a little early in our developement to posting it on blogs, but hey, its up and running so check it out. Let us know what you think.